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GEOGRAPHY 




NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA 
AND THE WEST INDIES 



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THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY 



THE INTERNATIONAL 

GEOGRAPHY 

By Seventy Authors 



EDITED BY 

HUGH ROBERT MILL 

D.Sc. (Edinburgh), LL.D. (St. Andrews), F.R.S.E. 

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE VIENNA GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 

FELLOW OR HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES 

OF LONDON, EDINBURGH, PARIS, BERLIN, BUDAPEST, AMSTERDAM 

BRISBANE AND PHILADELPHIA 



NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, 
AND THE WEST INDIES 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1908 



LIBRA RV of CONGRESS 
\vt> o ' o'fs Rer.e'veo j 

SEP 4 J9U8 

QLftSS OL RXc, 1Mb, 
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Copyright, 1899, 1908, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



All rights of translation and reproductioti reserved 



AUTHORS 

DAVIS, Professor W. M., Harvard University. — The Continent of 
North America, The United States. 

HEILPRIN, Professor A., Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia. — 
Mexico. 

HILL, R. T., U.S. Geological Survey. — Cuba, Porto Rico. 

MILL, Dr. H. R. — Bermuda, British Honduras. 

RODWAY. J., Georgetown, Demerara. — The West Indies. 

SAPPER, Dr. K. , Coban, Guatemala. — The Central American Republics. 

TYRRELL, J. Burr, formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada.— 
The Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland. 

ZIMMERMANN, Maurice, Paris.— St. Pierre and Miquelon. 



PREFACE 

In presenting this section of the International Geography for use in schools 
or private study, I desire to urge the necessity for the constant use of a 
good atlas, containing, if possible, physical as well as "political" maps. 
The small maps given in the text serve only to concentrate attention on 
certain important points, and by no means take the place of an atlas. 

The teacher interested in his work will not fail to develop the diagram- 
matic treatment of statistics, and guard his pupils against the delusion 
that there is any virtue in remembering exact figures of population, or of 
trade, or of other matters which are constantly changing. 

It is a good plan to encourage drawing and colouring the flags of the 
different countries correctly, and to use the flag as the symbol of the 
country whenever it is possible to do so. An incident which occurred on 
the landing of King Edward VII. at Lisbon on an official visit might 
well be remembered. A strip of carpet laid on the muddy quay proved too 
short, and was supplemented at the last moment by a large Portuguese 
flag : when the King came to the flag of the country he was visiting, he 
stepped off in the mud rather than trample upon it. The recognition of 
the flag as the highest expression of the individuality of a country has 
led to the introduction in the text of numerous illustrations of flags and 
colonial badges. 

It is worth suggesting to teachers the preparation of an illustrated 
geography of the greatest interest by gradually forming an album of 
picture post-cards, each card being selected to show some characteristic 
view or scene. Most picture post-cards would be rejected, but the few 
retained would be found of permanent value. 

The questions added at the end (for the compilation of which I am 
indebted to Mr. G. F. Bosworth) are intended to serve as guides to the 
teacher, and to suggest further questions which he may frame, and 
problems which may be set and solved from the data given in the pages. 
While I venture to hope that both teachers and pupils exist in increasing 
numbers who enjoy the study of geography on account of its inherent 
interest, the specimen questions, copied from various examination papers 
of the modern type, may direct the attention of others less happily gifted 

vii 



viii The International Geography 

to ways of viewing the subject, which, even if unattractive, may be of 
service. 

The special feature of the International Geography is that the descrip- 
tion of each country is not only prepared according to a uniform plan 
embodying the principles of geography, but it is the work of a high 
authority, and in most cases of a native or long resident in the country 
described. Next to a thorough knowledge of the British Isles and the 
outlying parts of the British Empire, from the standpoint of a Britisli 
subject, proud of the progress and achievement of all the Britains, it seems 
to me that a sound knowledge of other countries, as they are known to 
their own people from within, is of the highest importance in teaching 
ourselves our true position among the countries of the world. The 
International Geography is designed with that aim in view. 

The work has been carefully revised, and in carrying out the revision, 
I have gladly availed myself of the assistance of many friendly critics in 
all countries. 

I have to acknowledge with special thanks the skilled advice and 
generous help of my old friend, Mr. R. A. Gregory, in making the neces- 
sary arrangements for publishing the greater part of the volume in separate 
and independent sections of a convenient size for use in schools. 

H. R. M. 

62 Camden Square, London, N.W. 
luly 1907. 



CONTENTS 

(Chapters XXXVII.-XLII. of the complete work.) 



XXXVII. The Continent of North America. By Prof. W, 
M. Davis . . . . 

XXXVIII. Colonial North America : — 

Dominion of Canada. By J. B. Tyrrell . 
Newfoundland and Labrador. By J. B. Tyrrell 
St. Pierre and Miquelon. By M. Zimmermann 
Bermuda. By the Editor . 
XXXIX. The United States. By Prof. W. M. Davis 
XL. Mexico. By Prof. A. Heilprin 
XLI. Central America : — 

The Central American Republics. By Dr. K 

Sapper ..... 
British Honduras. By the Editor 
XLII. The West Indies :— 

General Features. By J. Rodway 

Cuba. By R. T. Hill 

Porto Rico. By R. T. Hill 

Haiti and Santo Domingo. By J. Rodway 

West Indian Colonies. By J. Rodway . 

Questions and Exercises .... 

Index . . . 



664 

679 
704 
707 
708 
710 
774 



782 
789 

791 

793 
798 
801 
803 



IX 



NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, 
AND THE WEST INDIES 



BOOK IV. : NORTH AMERICA 



CHAPTER XXXVII.— THE CONTINENT OF 
NORTH AMERICA. 

By William Morris Davis, 

Professor of Physical Geography in Haivard University. 

Resemblances bet-ween North and South America. — The 

number of continents interrupting the great ocean is so small that it is 
difficult to determine what are essential and what are unessential con- 
tinental features. The overgrown land area of Eurasia and the small 
continent of Australia are so unlike in structure and form that no just 
comparison can be drawn between them without straining the slight 
resemblance of parts that are imagined to correspond with one another. 
If all the continents were as much alike as North and South America, the 
problem would be much simpler. Here distinct resemblances with an 
assured basis in geological history may be discovered ; and perhaps for 
this reason the repeated features of these two land masses are often taken 
as the essential features of continental form. 

In a very general way, the two Americas each have a greater belt of 
mountainous highlands along their western side ; and two lesser highlands 
on the north-east and south-east. The greater highlands include many 
volcanic cones and lava sheets, and intermont basins ; and the drainage 
of the latter frequently fails to reach the sea. Eruptive and mountain- 
making disturbances have here been in operation in relatively recent 
geological periods. The lesser highlands owe their deformed structures 
to ancient disturbances, although their present altitude above sea-level 
may have been gained by uplift at a comparatively modern date in the 
Earth's history. North-east of each of the north-eastern highlands lies an 
archipelago ; but the islands of the two archipelagoes are very unlike in 
size and origin. Between the western and eastern highlands lies an 
extensive belt of plains at a moderate altitude above the sea-level, and 
with ill-defined divides between the chief river systems. The Mackenzie 
and Orinoco flow northward, the St. Lawrence and Amazon flow eastward, 
and the Mississippi and La Plata flow southward. 

Contrasts between North and South America. — Although 
differing in a host of minor details, these large resemblances serve to 
establish true continental homologies ; but their value would be lost if 
the comparison were pressed too far. The most important points of con- 

664 



North America 665 

trast result from the situation of North America chiefly in the north tem- 
perate zone, while South America has its greatest width in the torrid zone. 
The Arctic archipelago includes one of the two great glacial sheets now 
existing ; and its shores are bound by the ice foot every winter. The 
West Indies rise through warm ocean currents into the warm trade winds; 
their largest island bears elevated coral reefs, and living coral reefs border 
many of their shores. The freezing waters of Baffin and Hudson bays 
and the cold Labrador current that they give forth have no likeness in the 
"caldrons" of the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, or in the warm 
current that flows from them: Under the severe climate of the far north 
the lichens and mosses of the "barren lands" west of Hudson Bay, and 
the coniferous forests of the inhospitable uplands of Labrador have little 
likeness to the grassy llanos of the Orinoco and luxuriant tropical forests 
of Guiana. The direct and indirect results of glaciation, so pronounced in 
North America, include features so important as the Great Lakes of the St. 
Lawrence system, for which the Amazon, under the equatorial rain belt, 
has no parallel. Tropical North America, with mangroves and coral reefs 
along its shores, malaria on its coastal lowlands, and an agreeable climate 
on its plateaux, forms a striking contrast to the narrowing southern ex- 
tremity of South America, whose inclement climate illustrates the real 
character of the misnamed " south temperate zone." 

Resemblances between North America and Eurasia. — A com- 
parison may be drawn between North America and Eurasia in which 
climatic as well as structural and topographical features have certain 
striking resemblances ; but here the repetition is like that of the two 
hands, Eurasia being on the right and North America on the left of the 
axis of symmetry. The correspondence extends to so many structural 
features that it has been an embarrassment to the science of geology, by 
giving some basis for the belief that all the world was made on the pattern 
which north-eastern North America so largely duplicates from Europe. 
The Laurentian highlands correspond to Scandinavia and Finland ; com- 
posed of very ancient and greatly denuded rocks, highest and deeply 
fjorded on the Atlantic side, decreasing in altitude inland, and lately (as 
the Earth views time) depressed and submerged in Hudson Bay and the 
Gulf of Bothnia. Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces, with the 
adjacent shallow ocean waters on the fishing grounds of the Banks, may be 
paired with Great Britain and Ireland, and the shallow waters of the con- 
tinental shelf there adjoining. The St. Lawrence system, from its broad 
gulf to the great lakes is represented by a more submerged belt from the 
North Sea through the Baltic to the Gulf of Finland ; while the extensive 
lakes further north in Canada are represented by the larger lakes of north- 
western Russia. The Appalachians, with their basins of deformed coal 
measures stretching from Nova Scotia to Alabama, may be likened to an 
ancient coal-bearing mountain system of similar date, which extends from 
Wales across Belgium and far eastward into Germany. From the 



666 The International Geography 

Laurentian and Scandinavian highlands, extensive ice sheets have spread 
over the adjacent lands in geologically recent times ; advancing chiefly 
south and south-westward in North America, and south and south-eastward 
in Europe ; leaving the land dotted with lakes, and creating new landscapes 
in the heavy drift deposits left on the peripheral areas (Figs. 52 and 329). 
The fertile prairies of the Ohio and upper Mississippi basin and further north 
to Winnipeg, underlain by widespread Palaeozoic formations, correspond 
to the Russian plains of horizontal Palaeozoic strata. The treeless plains 
formed largely by Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, slowly ascending 
towards the base of the Rocky Mountains, match the Asiatic steppes of 
Tertiary deposits, slowly ascending towards the great mountain chains of 
central Asia. In both these regions of great horizontal extent and small 
vertical relief, the rainfall decreases with distance from the Atlantic, and 
the innermost districts are sub-arid of desert. Not until the massive 
mountain chains of central Asia are reached can we find the homologue of 
the western mountainous highlands of North America. 

East Coast. — The coast lines of North America offer many illus- 
trations of the manner in which relatively slight movements of elevation 
or depression of a continental mass cause important changes in its 
boundary, and introduce peculiar controls over the occupations of 
its inhabitants. From New England north and west nearly to the 
mouth of the Mackenzie river, the land now stands somewhat lower 
than its average position during a considerable part of Tertiary 
time ; hence the coast is generally bold and rocky, many deep bays 
indent the land, outlying islands stand off shore, and the submerged 
lowlands broaden the continental shelf. The Gulf of Maine with its 
branch into the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of St. Lawrence heading in a 
great estuary that leads tide water seven hundred miles inland, Hudson 
Bay and the many channels between the Arctic islands must all be 
regarded as occupying "drowned lowlands." It is true that in geologically 
recent times a movement of uplift has carried wave-cut cliffs, wave-built 
beaches, and bay-floor sediments above the present sea-level around a 
great part of this continental border, thus partly restoring to the lands 
what they had previously lost ; but as the shore line is still fringed with 
bays, inlets, and fjords, the uplift cannot have been so great as the depres- 
sion that preceded it. The outlying area of Greenland is a great plateau 
of ice and snow, burying a rugged land, whose shore line is fjorded like 
that of its neighbours. 

From New York city southward, the dominating continental movement 
of recent times has been upward ; for the coastal plain of the Atlantic 
States and of the Gulf of Mexico (see Figs. 353 and 360), demonstrates 
elevation as clearly as the bays and fjords further north demonstrate 
depression. Here the coast is low and flat, fringed with sand reefs built 
by wave action on the shallow sea bottom. The elevation is complicated 
with recent depressions of slight amount, by which certain open valleys 



North America 667 



along the coast from New Jersey to North Carolina have been transformed 
into shallow arms of the sea ; but this depression is evidently of less 
extent than the general uplift that preceded it, for the arms of the sea 
seldom reach to the inner border of the coastal plain. In spite of the 
depression, the continent retains some of the breadth gained by elevation, 
a welcome addition to the land surface in a latitude of mild climate, fully 
compensating for the submergence' of certain lowlands further north, 
where the sea water is probably as valuable in providing fishing grounds 
and harbours as the lost lowlands would be for farming under the colder 
air of those higher latitudes. 

West Indies. — Although the West Indies were in an earlier para- 
graph associated with South America, they may here be briefly described 
with the northern continent. They offer three distinct types of land forms. 
The larger islands, trending east and west, are the crest of great ridges 
that divide the adjoining seas into well separated compartments, and these 
ridges are best regarded as the submarine beginnings of an Antillean 
mountain system. Many of the Lesser Antilles, arranged in a curved line 
that recalls the island loops bordering eastern Asia, are of volcanic origin. 
The Bahamas are low islands of organic growth, formed in large part 
of wind-blown coral sand, of flat surface, and now partly submerged by 
recent depression. They have steep submarine slopes to the north-east, 
where the land rapidly descends to great depths beneath the Atlantic. 

West Coast. — The western coast of North America repeats certain 
features of the eastern coast, but with diminished breadth. North of 
latitude 48 , there is the ragged outline that results from recent sub- 
mergence ; but the measure of submergence appears to lessen along the 
western side of Alaska, where the great delta of the Yukon would imply 
that the land has been more stable than further south-east. The Aleutian 
Island chain, chiefly volcanic, is the first of the series of loops fringing 
the eastern border of Asia. For this reason, as well as for certain other 
features of resemblance, the frozen lowlands of north-west Alaska may be 
rather closely associated with those of north-eastern Asia, the two being 
separated only by the narrow and shallow waters of Bering Strait. Along 
the coast of southern Alaska and British Columbia, submergence has led 
the sea far into the valleys of the mountainous highlands. Some of the 
inner longitudinal valleys, beyond the outer ranges, are now under water, 
forming " canals " of great value for coastwise navigation ; the enclosing 
range stands forth in a chain of hilly and mountainous islands. The land 
hereabout commonly plunges at so steep an angle into the sea that level 
ground is wanting along the shore, except where rivers have built their 
deltas forward in protected bay heads. 

Further south, the western coast of the United States and of Mexico 
exhibits signs of comparatively recent elevation, of increasing distinctness 
southward. Elevated beaches are described in Washington and California. 
Strips of coastal plains occur along the Mexican coast, but they nowhere 



668 The International Geography 

attain the breadth of those bordering the Atlantic, and moreover, dis- 
orderly movements have disturbed many of the littoral structures of" 
California in comparatively recent times ; these movements being associ- 
ated with the modern periods of growth of the western mountain system, 
and having no analogy along the Atlantic coast. Notable among illus- 
trations of these littoral disturbances are the islands that he off the coast 
of southern California, separated by deep-water channels from the main- 
land, and having the appearance of disordered and dissected blocks of the 
Earth's crust, here rising above the level of the sea. Appropriate to a 
region of recent disturbance, the continental shelf is of very moderate 
development, averaging not more than ten miles in breadth along the 
coast of California. It is trenched at numerous points by " submerged 
valleys," which are taken to indicate that for a relatively brief period the 
continental border stood higher than at present, but the submergence by 
which the present relative attitude of land and sea were gained did not 
suffice to produce a coast of very irregular outline, and this downward 
movement may be regarded as only an episode in a more general move- 
ment of irregular elevation. 

On the coast thus fashioned, the attack of the sea has cut cliffs on the 
headlands, and has formed concave shores of sweeping curvature in the 
re-entrants ; well protected harbours are therefore relatively rare. The chief 
re-entrant of the southern coast is the Gulf of California ; this seems to be 
a trough of local depression, while the enclosing peninsula of Lower 
California is a mountain range of local and irregular elevation. The 
Valley of California between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range is 
another trough of local depression ; but here the trough is filled with land 
waste washed from the adjoining mountains, and forming a fluviatile plain. 
The sea enters a short distance inland from San Francisco, here making 
the only strong re-entrant for a long distance along the Pacific border ; it 
has naturally become the site of the metropolis of western North America. 

Laurentian Highlands. — The chief subdivisions of North America 
may now be reviewed in a general way. The Laurentian Highlands, with 
outliers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and in the rugged 
uplands of northern Wisconsin and north-eastern Minnesota, consist of very 
ancient rocks. Their coarsely crystalline texture shows that the rocks now 
visible once lay far under ground ; for only deep within the crust can such 
rock texture be produced. Their greatly deformed structure indicates' 
that the rock masses which formerly rose above the present surface once 
possessed a vigorous mountain form ; for mountains are the only form 
appropriate to such structures at the period of their deformation. The 
comparatively even surface of the highlands of to-day must therefore be 
regarded as the denuded platform of an ancient mountain system ; for only 
by great denudation can the former mountain cover of the existing textures 
and structures have been removed. But all this must have happened in the 
dawn of geological time, for the ancient mountains were worn low early 



North America 



66, 






enough for some of the oldest Jf ossilif erous strata to be laid upon their flanks 
when their borders were submerged beneath an ancient sea. The Laurentian 
Highlands may therefore be viewed as part of a very ancient land ; one of 
the earliest and most extensive lands of the globe. 

Since the time when all this happened the geological history of the 
region has been uneventful. It has probably suffered repeated move- 
ments of elevation and depression, with corresponding alternations of denu- 
dation and deposition ; but as all the flanking Palaeozoic strata are still 
essentially horizontal, no disorderly crushing and no great uplifts and disloca- 
tions can have taken place since their deposition. During certain periods 
of moderate elevation, valleys were eroded in the borders of the highlands ; 
and these, now partly drowned, determine the bays and fjords of the coast. 

Glacial Action. — Most notable of all events since the great denudation 
of early time is the glaciation of the Laurentian region in a very modern stage 
of the Earth's history ; a time 
when these highlands resem- 
bled the Greenland of to-day. 
The ice sheets crept far south 
and west overland, and the 
results of their invasions on 
the bordering regions are of 
great geographical import- 
ance. The highlands them- 
selves, scoured under the ice 
sheets, present a succession of 
rocky mounds and irregular 
hollows, drained by disorderly 
and undeveloped streams. 
Here we find ragged lakes, 
often having more than one 
outlet ; forested swamps and 
grassy marshes traversed by sluggish streams ; split rivers including large 
" islands " tens of miles in length, between the divided channels ; stretches 
of smooth streams in open valleys alternating with falls and rapids in rocky 
gorges. This great region, barren in the north-west, forested in the south- 
east, is an irredeemable wilderness. 

A short distance outside the highland border, where the Palaeozoic 
strata lie upon the floor of the older rocks, broad plains alternate with large 
lakes that occupy depressions in the weaker layers ; ten or more important 
water bodies lie in a curve from Lake Ontario to Great Bear Lake. The 
history of these lakes has gained an almost dramatic interest in recent years, 
for it has been shown that they are the residuals of much greater lakes that 
for a time occupied the lacustrine belt when the present outlets were closed 
by the retreating ice sheet of the last glacial invasion. The expanded 
waters of the glacial-marginal lakes carried silt from the melting ice, and 
2 




1<=>| Existing Glaciers- h^ : \ Ancient Ice Sheet. 
Fig. 329. — The Glaciation of North America. 



670 The International Geography 



the lake floors now laid bare form smooth prairies of fine deep soil, yielding 
great crops of wheat if not too far north. Their fertility coupled with 
modern means of transportation have seriously affected the commerce in 
the food supply of the world. The lakes still remaining afford a marvellous, 
system of inland waterways. 

South and west of the lake belt, glacial action has been on the whole 
constructive, instead of destructive. For tens of miles together, not a ledge 
of rock is to be seen ; the surface is heavily sheeted with glacial drift, the 
greater part of which has a fine and fertile soil. Although commonly 
treated as if pertinent to geology, it cannot be questioned by those who 
know the appearance of this vast drift-covered prairie region that glacial 
action has many geographical consequences. 

Appalachians. — The Appalachian highland, extending from New- 
foundland to Alabama (and probably reappearing west of the Mississippi in 

Arkansas and Indian Territory) is 
one of those old mountain ranges, 
made in the earlier and middle 
ages of the Earth's history ; so long 
ago that the original mountains 
have been for the most part worn 
down to lowlands ; their present 
moderate height is due to the local 
success of the most enduring rocks 
in resisting complete denudation, 
or to a relatively modern uplift of 
the region to upland height ; or to 
both causes combined. Being so 
old, the Appalachians have none 
of the bold and irregular forms of 
younger and more vigorous moun- 
tains, where lofty peaks ri-u be- 
tween deep passes. Ridges with 
gven crest lines and broad uplands separated by open and populous 
valleys are the prevailing forms. Only the culminating parts of the 
system, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Black Moun- 
tains of North Carolina, retain distinctly conical or peak-like forms, and 
even here, forests clothe most of the mountain slopes, only occasional 
summits rise above the tree line, and bare, angular crags are seldom seen. 
The middle part of the system, known as the Allegheny Mountains in 
Pennsylvania and Virginia, is of moderate elevation, and is intersected by 
many and broad valleys. Immigration into the Ohio valley was here less 
obstructed by the mountain ridges than by the Allegheny plateau which 
lies west of them. 

Trends in a north-east and south-west direction predominate in the 
Appalachians, as may be seen in the land arms and fjords of Newfound- 




FlG. 330. — Configuration of North America. 



North America 671 



land and Nova Scotia, as well as in the ridges and the valleys of the 
Alleghenies in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The boundaries of the system 
are of interest in connection with its physical history. From New York 
to Newfoundland the Appalachian belt of New England and the Provinces 
dips under the sea on the east and north-east ; its structures do not end, they 
simply descend beneath the sea and are lost to sight on account of a recent 
continental depression. As the uplands slant down to lowlands near 
the coast they are occupied by a large population, especially in the 
harbour cities where manufacturing and commerce are active. Further 
inland the population is almost limited to the open valleys. From New 
York to Alabama, the Appalachian structures decrease in height to the 
south-east and south, and disappear under the coastal plain of the Atlantic 
and Gulf States ; the inner margin of the plain roughly marks the shore 
line of an earlier period of continental depression. Here a rural popula- 
tion occupies the broader valleys and the lower uplands ; the chief cities 
being associated with the inner border of the coastal plain, where rapids 
in the outflowing rivers afford water power ; and again with the outer 
border of the plain where the bays and the estuaries give harbourage to 
seagoing vessels. Only on the north-west is a true termination of the 
mountain system discovered. Here the deformations that give so distinct 
a trend to the upland ridges and valleys of the Appalachians die out. The 
Laurentian uplands and the Adirondacks, consisting of ancient rocks long 
undisturbed, adjoin the Appalachians of the Provinces and of New 
England ; the Allegheny plateau, of nearly horizontal sedimentary strata, 
adjoins the Appalachians of the middle and southern States. 

The Allegheny plateau is known as the Catskill Mountains in New 
York, and the Cumberland tableland in Tennessee and Alabama. Between 
these two extremes much of its hilly surface is known as the Allegheny 
Mountains, although this term should properly be restricted to the long, 
even-crested ridges that lie next to the south-east from Pennsylvania to 
Tennessee. Taking the plateau altogether, it descends by a strong escarp- 
ment into the valleys of the Alleghenies on the south-east, while it 
gradually decreases in altitude towards the prairies of the middle Ohio 
and Mississippi on the west. Throughout this plateau, as well as among 
the Pennsylvania ridges on the east and under certain of the prairies 
further west, lie the great stores of coal on which the industrial prosperity 
of the eastern United States largely depends. 

Rocky Mountain System. — The western highlands of North America, 
or the Rocky Mountain system in general, is widest in latitude 40 ; and 
thence narrows to its end in the Alaskan range about latitude 63 , and to 
its termination near the great Mexican volcanoes in latitude 18 . Its eastern 
boundary is generally well defined by a sudden descent to the Great Plains. 
Its western border touches the sea for nearly all its length. Within its 
area there is a great variety of structure and form. The Selkirk Range, 
crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the broad St. Elias Alps in 



6j2 The International Geography 

Alaska, are truly Alpine in form, with great snow-fields and long glaciers. 
The Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon and the southern ranges of 
Mexico are crowned with great volcanic cones. Extensive plateaux of 
horizontal structure are found in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, bearing 
dissected volcanic cones and lava flows on the uplands, and trenched by 
deep canyons, of which that of the Colorado is the most famous. Vast 
lava plateaux occupy intermont basins in Idaho and Washington, where 
they are cut down in the canyons of the Columbia and Snake rivers ; that 
of the Snake being less known but hardly less marvellous than that of the 
Colorado. Many ranges of moderate dimensions inclose intermont 
depressions that are now occupied by aggraded or waste-filled plains •, the 
plateau of Mexico being only an extensive development of these basins 
between the eastern and western ranges of the Sierra Madre. 

As is the rule among mountains, the individual ridges generally result 
from the erosion of valleys in broadly uplifted ranges, rather than from 
direct and local uplift. Many of the separate ridges of the Rocky Moun- 
tain ranges in Canada and Montana are thus produced ; the view from 
their summits disclosing a " sea of mountains," ridge following ridge to the- 
horizon, like waves on the ocean. The peaks frequently attain, but seldom 
exceed, a height of 12,000 or 14,000 feet. Greater elevations are found 
in the far north-west where , Mounts St. Elias and Logan exceed 
18,000 feet on either side of the Alaskan boundary, and in the far south, 
where the Mexican volcanoes rise above the snow line to similar but 
slightly less altitudes. 

In certain parts of the western highlands, dislocation is more 
directly responsible for the existing relief of the land ; and this as 
well as the great general altitude of the region places it in strong 
contrast with the lesser eastern highlands. Certain of the mountain ridges 
and ranges are the immediate result of the uplift of the crust-blocks whose 
initial form has not yet been wholly effaced by the carving of valleys on their 
flanks. The Sierra Nevada is, in a large way, a great tilted block, or series 
of blocks, the eastern face being short and steep, the western slope being 
long and relatively gentle ; both faces are now scored by deep valleys 
through which the mountain waste is carried out to form the adjacent 
plains. The lofty plateaux of Arizona are bounded by great cliffs, the 
edges of the huge plateau-blocks, that have been uplifted to altitudes 
differing by a thousand feet or more, and now made rugged by 
gnawing streams. Further east, basins among the mountains of Colorado, 
Wyoming and Montana, are the obverse of the ranges that have been 
uplifted around them, the basins being heavily aggraded with the 
mountain waste. It is believed that lakes occupied some of these basins 
for a time, but that stage is now past ; the outflowing rivers have 
cut down the enclosing ranges in deep gorges, still so narrow as to be 
impassable except to carefully constructed railroads. It is in the basins 
that most of the population gathers in the mountain region. 



North America 673 

South of latitude i8°, the mountains of Central America are largely- 
volcanic, with little relation to the features of the Rocky Mountain system. 
Where ridges appear, they generally have east and west trends, and thus 
seem to be associated with the Antillean Mountain system, of which the 
greater part is submerged in the Caribbean Sea and made known only by 
soundings as submarine ridges. 

The Great Plains.— The Great Plains slope eastward from the base 
of the Rocky Mountains. They are broadest between latitudes 35 and 55 . 
Further north, they are narrowed by the convergence of the lacustrine 
belt on the east and the mountains on the west ; further south, they merge 
into the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico ; beyond southern Texas their 
width is measured only in tens of miles. Over their widest expanse they 
present a vast surface of moderate yet varied relief. They are frequently 
interrupted by embossed mesas and escarpments, or by incised valleys ; 
yet the name of " plains " is well applied, for the view from every little 
eminence is almost as boundless as upon the sea. On the east, the plains 
merge into the prairies ; on the west they are interrupted by foot-hills and 
outlying ridges near the base of the mountains. A mountain group in 
Dakota known as the Black Hills, named from the dark forests that 
crown it, diversifies the treeless plains and introduces mining and 
lumbering in the midst of open cattle ranges. The Ouachita ridges extend- 
ing westward from Arkansas, break in upon the plains about latitude 35 ; 
further south they are known in Texas as the " Llano estacado " with bold 
and ragged escarpments on nearly all sides. 

Like the vast plains of eastern Europe and western Asia, the Great 
Plains of North America stretch over so great a distance on theEarth's 
convex surface that they are more varied in climate than in form. Far 
north, they are frozen and barren. Between latitudes 50 and 6o°, they 
are forested, the temperature here not being low enough to prevent tree 
growth and not high enough to cause active evaporation and leave the 
surface arid From 55 southward into Mexico, the plains are treeless for 
the most part, this being a direct result of their dryness, which in turn is 
due almost as largely to their summer warmth as to their light rainfall. 
In Mexico and Yucatan, where the rainfall increases under the trade winds, 
the lowlands have a tropical flora of increasing richness southward ; in 
contrast to the mild climate of the plateaux, the narrow coastal plains are 
here known as the " tierra caliente." 

Climate. — The varied climates of North America afford many com- 
binations of the geometrical zones of temperature, wind, and rainfall, 
appropriate to the globular form of the Earth, with the irregular or 
arbitrary arrangement of these climatic factors caused by the non- 
geometrical outline and relief of the lands. 

Zonal arrangement is seen in the decrease of temperature and rainfall 
from almost equatorial conditions at the Isthmus of Panama, to almost polar 
conditions bordering the Arctic Sea. It is displayed with equal distinctness 




674 The International Geography 

in the easterly winds of the torrid belt that cover the peninsular and 
insular lands on the south, and in the stormy westerly winds that prevail 
over a broad belt of middle and higher latitudes. The irregular distribu- 
tion of the climatic factors is seen in the far northward summer migration 

of the heat equator to the 
deserts of Arizona and western 
Mexico as compared with the 
moderate migration on the 
oceans, and in the great annual 
temperature range with ex- 
treme winter cold on the 
central plains of Canada, in 
contrast to the moderate 
ranges prevailing over the 
oceans in similar latitudes. 
Fig. 331.— North America. Isotherms for January. It is found again in the plen- 
[After Buchan.) tiful rainfall of the western 

mountain slopes in temperate latitudes, while the intermont basins and the 
eastern slopes are dry, and in the abundant rainfall of the eastern slopes in 
the trade wind belt, where the western slopes are relatively arid. Nothing 
can be more striking than the contrast between the moderate change of 
seasons along the Pacific coast from Alaska to California, and the violent 
changes from winter to summer in the interior and along the middle 
Atlantic border. These unlike conditions are dependent partly on the 
arrangement of ocean currents as guided by continental barriers, and 
partly on the distribution of temperatures by the prevailing winds. The 
British Islands have, under the benign influence of the North Atlantic drift, 
the most abnormally mild climate for their latitude in the world ; Labrador 
in the same latitude has one 
of the most severe of climates. 
It is a frozen and snow- 
covered wilderness in winter ; 
it might have a comparatively 
high mean temperature in 
summer, but for the chill that 
is received when the wind 
blows inland from the cold ice- 
laden current along its coast. 
Following upon these great 
interior changes of tempera- 
ture, the prevailing winds ex- 
hibit something of a monsoon 
effect in certain regions. They frequently blow from the Gulf of Mexico up 
the Mississippi valley in summer, and down the valley to the Gulf in winter. 
Some indications of inflow and outflow may also be perceived in summer 



' '^^_-^4^^5& 






Vis) so* \ 





Fig. 33; 



-North America. Isotherms for July. 
(After Buchan.) 



North America 



75 



F° Jan Fes. Mai Apr. Mat. Juk. Jul. Ajc Sep. Oct. Hot Oic. '•»• 


80 
75 

70 
65 
60 
55 
50 
45 
40 
35 
30 
25 


























11 

10 
9 
8 
7 

5 

3 
2 

1 















,~ 




















, 


I 






\ 
















i^' 








£*J- 








rr 


_i 


_. 


._ 


_. 




Xx 








I 


... 




... 








\ 


























\ 










— 








J~ 






San Francisco — New York 



FIG. 333. — Temperature and Rainfall 
Curves for San Francisco and New 
York. 



and winter along the Arctic coast. There is furthermore a breaking of the 
wind belts merely from the occurrence of transverse land barriers. It is 
chiefly on account of the obstacle formed by 
the western highlands that a branch of the 
prevailing westerly winds turns towards 
the trades off the Pacific coast, especially in 
winter when the low continental tempera- 
ture discourages the entrance of winds 
from the ocean. Similarly, the trades give 
forth branches to the westerly winds east 
of the Mexican highlands, especially in 
summer when the high continental tempera- 
ture persuades the winds to blow inland. 

The ovals of high and low pressure, 
known as cyclonic and anticyclonic areas, 
which so markedly characterise the westerly 
winds of temperate latitudes, are not only well developed as they drift across 
North America, but they have been abundantly charted in the great series of 
official weather maps for the United States and a bordering belt of Canada. 
While the anticyclones are generally associated with fair weather, the 
cyclonic areas provide most of the heavy clouds and rainfall on their path. 
During the passage of these atmospheric disturbances across the interior 
plains, they determine the strong changes of weather for which the region 

is noted ; the vast extent of comparatively 
low open country permitting a free im- 
portation of air currents from frigid and 
torrid latitudes on either hand. 

Rainfall and Vegetation. — While 
the extremes of temperature are the con- 
trolling climatic factors in determining the 
vegetable products and human industries 
between the far north and south, variation 
of rainfall exercises the most important 
climatic control across the great breadth 
of the continent in middle latitudes. A 
vast extent of country in the interior, shut 
off by the mountains from the moist winds 
of the Pacific, is too dry for ordinary 
processes of agriculture, unless resort is 
had to irrigation. Where most arid, the 
surface is a desert, although seldom so 
absolutely barren as the driest deserts of 
the Old World. Where a light rainfall 
is received, a thin growth of grass that once supported vast herds of 
bisons now gives scanty pasture to ranging cattle. Trees are wanting 



F° Jan. Feb. Mar Apr Mat. Jjk. Jul. Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec [u 


90 
65 
80 
75 
70 
65 
60 
55 
50 
45 
40 
35 
30 
25 
20 
15 
10 
5 

-5 
-10 


























7 
6 
6 
4 
3 
2 
1 















___ 




















/ 








\ 


\ 

















/ 


r- 


A 






V 




/ 


'' 








! 




^ 


\ 






\ 


















\ 




















... 


— i 












~~"V/-- 














—J 




"TTTTTI ! i 












I 










'■;■: 


T-— 






p 






f" 












il 


1; 




























\ 
























\ 

































Fig 334. — Tempera t u re a nd Ra infix 11 
Cinves for Winnipeg and New 
Orleans. 



676 The International Geography 

over a great space of broad plains and intermont basins west of the 

100th meridian; but the mountain slopes are forested, especially as 

the Pacific is neared, the western descent of the Cascade Range being 

- /■■••■^ -^ ^"s*-. , , .^.y, 2 densely occupied by trees of 

11; .-X l:^r^W 




Fig. 335.- 



-The Mean Annual Rainfall of North 
America. (After Snpan.) 



great size. East of the 90th 
meridian, excepting for the 
prairies of the Mississippi 
and Winnipeg region, and 
the barren grounds of the 
far north, forests originally 
covered the entire country, 
for here the beneficent sub- 
mergence under the Caribbean 
and Mexican Mediterraneans 
of what would otherwise be 
an American Sahara permits 
a plentiful rainfall over the* 
eastern part of the continent. When first explored, great tracts of forest 
were found to have been devastated by fire. Although the forests have 
now been extensively cut for timber and cleared for farming, the living 
trees at present are believed to be not greatly decreased below the number 
that were growing at the time of first settlement. 

Aboriginal People. — Four hundred years ago, North America was 
for the most part thinly populated by savage or barbarous peoples. In 
Mexico and Central America the inhabitants had developed an elaborate 
stone architecture, shown now in the temples whose ruins are often con- 
cealed under heavy forest growth. Further north, numerous earthworks 
and fortifications mark the sites of pre-Columbian settlements, as in the 
Ohio basin ; these are by some attributed to an extinct people ; by others, 
to the immediate ancestors of the wandering warlike tribes, to whom 
a memorial of Columbus's faulty reckoning of longitude still clings in 
the name of " Indians." The early Americans had learned to do simple 
weaving, to make rough pottery, to carve shells, to hammer the native 
copper of Lake Superior, and to chip flints and polish stone imple 
ments in the neolithic fashion. They seem to have had no horses when 
first discovered, but the tribes of the open prairies and plains became 
expert horsemen in later times. In the western desert interior there 
are " pueblos," or villages, built for protection on isolated mesas, still occu- 
pied, and probably to be associated with the abandoned cliff dwellings 
of the neighbouring canyon walls. On the north-west coast there are 
tribes remarkable for their fantastic wood carvings. In the far north the 
Eskimos are made torpid, as far as development goes, by the extreme 
rigour of their surroundings. Striking differences of language prevailed 
among many of the tribes, especially those on the Pacific slope. 

History. — The early discovery of North America by the way of 



North America 



77 



Iceland seems to be authenticated in the " Sagas," but no traces of previous 
settlements were found by later comers. The Columbian discovery sooner 
or later led the Spaniards to found colonies from Florida southward, the 
French from Louisiana and Acadia (now Nova Scotia) northward, and the 
British along the middle Atlantic coast. Conquest, treaty and purchase 
have now placed the Anglo-Saxon element in possession of the continent 
from Mexico northward. The defeat of the French at Quebec in 1759 
brought to the British crown all the St. Lawrence region except some small 
" enclaves " on or near Newfoundland. The last quarter of the eighteenth 
century witnessed the stormy separation of the Atlantic colonies from the 
United Kingdom, and their union in the first of the great modern republics 
— the United States. Purchase in 1803, when the Emperor Napoleon was 
in need of money, brought Louisiana (the western basin of the Mississippi) 
to the United States, and 
in 1867 added the pre- 
viously Russian territory 
of Alaska to the Republic. 
Mexico and the other 
Central American States 
secured their indepen- 
dence from Spain in 
the first quarter of the 
nineteenth century, and 
adopted republican forms 
of government (Fig. 350). 
The attempt to bring 
Mexico again under Euro- 
pean control, at a time 
when the United States 
was distracted by civil 
war, fortunately met early failure. In the meantime, fed by a great number 
of European colonists, the several northern British colonies (except New- 
foundland) have united in the Dominion of Canada, which now stretches 
from the Atlantic and Pacific to the Arctic ; the territory of the United States 
has been extended west to the Pacific, partly by exploration, partly at the 
expense of Mexico ; and, as a result of the war of 1898, Cuba has been 
separated from Spain, and Porto Rico fallen to the share of the United 
States as one of the first non-Continental possessions which the future 
seems to have in store for it. 

The rapidity with which the northern New World has been turned to 
the uses of civilisation is an appropriate consequence of the century of 
steam, electricity, and the wholesale production of steel. Railways and 
telegraphs now unite the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of North America, 
and serve as political as well as commercial bonds between the east and 
west. Steamships and cables bring Europe and North America into the 




Fig. 330. — Chief Railways of North America. 



678 The International Geography 

closest relations as to people and commerce. Even so small a matter as 
getting the time by one's watch is now done in concert, not with the 
people of North America alone, but with those of western Europe as 
well, for the greater part of the northern New World is divided into 
" time belts," whose noon hour falls four, five, six, seven or eight hours 
earlier than noon at Greenwich. Isolated villages in the backwoods may 
still hold to the old-fashioned habit of keeping local time, but the larger 
communities which use the railways as the basis of nearly all activities, 
adopt Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific time, according to 
their position. 

STATISTICS. 

THE COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA. 

Area in square miles. Population. 

United States of America (including Alaska) . . 3,501,000 . . 75,560,000 

Dominion of Canada 3,300,000 . . 5,370,000 

Mexico 767,000 . . 13,500,000 

Newfoundland (and Labrador) .. .. .. 161,000 .. 217,000 

STANDARD BOOKS. 

N. S. Shaler. "Nature and Man in America." New York and London, 1892. 

E. J. Payne. " History of the New World called America." Oxford. 2 vols. 1892, 1899. 

E. Deckert. " Nordamerika " (ed. by Sievers). 2nd ed. Leipzig and Vienna, 1904. 
H. H. Bancroft. Historical Works 39 vols. San Francisco, 1883-90. 

F. Parkman. Historical Works. 12 vols. New York and London. 

I. C. Russell. " Lakes of North America." Boston and London, 1900. 

" Glaciers of North America." Boston and London, 1901. 

P. Fountain. " The Great Deserts and Forests of North America." London, 1901. 



CHAPTER XXXVIIL- COLONIAL NORTH 
AMERICA 

I.— THE DOMINION OF CANADA 

By J. B. Tyrrell, M.A., B.Sc, 

Formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada. 

Position and Boundaries. — British North America, including under 
this name Canada and Newfoundland, occupies the whole of the northern 
part of the continent of North America, except Alaska, which belongs to 
the United States. It lies between longitudes 53 and 141 W., and touches 
the 42nd parallel on the south. The total area is rather over three and 
a half million square miles, or slightly larger than the United States, including 
Alaska, and somewhat smaller than the whole of Europe. Its greatest 
length, on a line drawn from Cape Race, in Newfoundland, to Mount St. 
Elias, on the boundary of Alaska, is 3,400 miles. 

Its only land boundary is with the United States, being separated from 
the territory of Alaska by the meridian of 141 W., and an undemarcated 
line parallel to the Pacific coast. The southern frontier, 3,260 miles in 
length, passes through the straits of Juan de Fuca and Haro on the west, 
along the parallel of 49 N. to the Lake of the Woods, east of which it 
takes a very irregular course, passes through the middle of Lakes Superior, 
Huron, Erie, and Ontario, then follows the highlands north of the State 
of Maine, and finally turns southward to the mouth of the St. Croix river 
on the Bay of Fundy. 

Coasts. — The eastern continental shore extends from the mouth of 
the St. Croix river in a very sinuous course northwards to Cape Chidley. 
The Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is its most conspicuous and important 
hydrographic feature, is a pear-shaped sea 500 miles long, cut off from 
the main Atlantic by the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton, 
and receiving on the west the great river St. Lawrence. The islands 
of Prince Edward and Anticosti lie within it. The northern^ coast of 
the mainland extends from Cape Chidley to Demarcation Point, on the 
border of Alaska, north of which is the immense Arctic archipelago, 
the islands for the most part being separated by rather shallow water. 
Hudson Bay, which is a great indentation on this northern coast, is one 
of the most important physical features of the Dominion of Canada, 
extending, as it does, southward until it reaches to within 300 miles of the 

679 



680 The International Geography 

north shore of Lake Superior. It thus divides the land-mass of Canada 
into two great parts, the smaller lying east and south-east, and the larger 
west of its shores. It is an inland sea, 1,300 miles in its greatest length, 
and 600 miles in maximum breadth, with an average depth in the 
centre of 60 fathoms. Its water, except in James' Bay, is clear and 
salt like the Atlantic, with which it is connected by Hudson Strait. The 
Pacific Coast-line, beginning at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, runs north- 
westward to the southern extremity of Alaska, a distance of 530 miles. It 
has an extremely irregular outline, on account of the many fjords and 
off-lying islands. 

Configuration and Geology. — The land-surface of Canada, and 




I^JW] Archaean 
Cnz) Paleozoic 
f ;v:: I TorNary and 



FIG. 337. — -The Geological Structure of Canada. 



in fact of the whole of the North American continent, has been built up 
around a great V-shaped area of Archaean rocks, which extends from the 
northern and eastern shore of Labrador round the north of the Great 
Lakes, and thence north-westward to the Arctic Sea. In the centre of this 
V lies Hudson Bay, while around it are the fertile plains of eastern and 
western Canada. This area, which has been called the Laurentian 
plateau, has a gently undulating rocky surface, in which the existing 
streams have nowhere cut deep valleys. In the depressions are some 
considerable areas of fertile land, but as a rule the region cannot support 
a large agricultural population. The eastern and western borders of the 



Dominion of Canada 68 1 

continent rise in two main systems of mountain chains, known respectively 
as the Appalachian and Cordilleran systems, the former dying out in eastern 
Canada and Newfoundland, while the latter, which forms the backbone 
of the continent, runs to its highest summits in north-western Yukon, 
where Mount St. Elias has an altitude of 18,010 feet, and Mount Logan a 
reputed altitude of 19,500 feet. Between the Laurentian plateau and the 
Appalachian Mountains lies the fertile plain of the Great Lakes and the 
St. Lawrence valley, which as yet contains the larger portion of the 
population of Canada, while between the Laurentian plateau and the 
Cordilleran chain lie the vast plains and prairies of western Canada. The 
country has been divided by the late Dr. G. M. Dawson into : — (1) Eastern 
lowlands and hills, almost entirely based on old and hard Palaeozoic rocks. 
(2) The Laurentian plateau. (3) The inland plains, principally based on the 
comparatively soft rocks of Mesozoic age, which still lie nearly as flat as 
when they were originally deposited. (4) The Cordilleran or western 
mountain region. 

Hydrography. — The mainland of Canada may be divided into four 
hydrographic basins. 

(1) In the Atlantic basin the principal stream is the St. Lawrence, 
which rises far in the interior of the continent, and after a course of 
2,100 miles, in which it chains the most magnificent series of fresh- 
water lakes in the world, empties by a wide and deep estuary into the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its basin has an area of half a million square miles. 
From Lake Erie, the Niagara river is broken by the Niagara Falls, 
where the whole drainage of the four upper lakes plunges 167 feet over a 
rocky ledge. 

(2) The drainage basin of Hudson Bay is the largest in the Dominion, 
and into it converge streams flowing from the east, south, and west. Of 
these the Saskatchewan-Nelson is the most important for length, drainage- 
area, and the fertility of the land it drains. 

(3) The principal stream in the Arctic drainage-area is the Mackenzie 
river, whose sources are mainly in the Rocky Mountains. The Finlay 
and Peace form the longest of the tributaries, though the Athabasca, rising 
farther south, is usually regarded as the main upper branch of the river. 
Athabasca, Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes — three of the largest of the 
many great bodies of water which lie along the edge of the Laurentian 
plateau — are tributary to the Mackenzie. 

(4) The Pacific area is in part drained by rapid streams which flow 
more or less directly into the ocean, among which the Fraser is the 
most important ; and in part by the Yukon which rises behind the Coast 
Range and flows more or less parallel with that range, northward through 
the Yukon district, and westward through Alaska, 644 miles being in 
Canada. 

Climate. — In so extensive a region the climate necessarily exhibits 
great diversities, but for the most part it may be said to be continental. 



682 The International Geography 



Dr. G. M. Dawson divides the whole country into three climatic areas. 

(i) The Eastern region characterised by great range of temperature and 

ample rainfall. This includes all the older 
provinces of Canada, with Newfoundland, 
and extends westward nearly to Winnipeg. 
It is naturally the great forest region. 
(2) The Inland region, adjoining the last 
and stretching westward to within a short 
distance of the Pacific Coast. This is 
characterised by very great range in 
temperature and moderate rainfall. It 
includes the great prairies and open 
plains, but is also in large part more 
or less wooded. (3) The Pacific Coast 
region, which does not include the 
whole Pacific slope, but only a narrow 
belt on the seaward side of the western 
mountain range of the Cordillera. The 
climate is oceanic, with small range of 

temperature, and great rainfall and humidity. 

The following table of mean temperature illustrates these climates : — 



1-'° Jan, Feb. Mab Apr. May. Jun. Jut. Auc. Sep. (Ici. Hpv Dec 1° 


70 
65 
60 
55 
60 
45 
40 
35 
30 
26 
20 
15 
10 
5 


























10 

16 
14 
13 
12 
11 
10 
9 
8 
7 
6 
5 
4 
3 
2 
1 













f 




'' 


















!/ 








s^ 


, 






























— 


-- 




u 


- 


-- 


-- 


- 


■ - 


-^ 




-- 








1 
1 














\ 








4- 
















\ 


\ 


/- 


> 
















■7- 




\ 








- 




~ r 








: 






Mr 


.w Westminster — Mqntreal— 



FiG. 338. — Temperature and Rainfall 
of New Westminster and Montreal. 





Summer. 




(July, August 




September.) 


Eastern. — Charlottetown, P.E.I. 


6i'9 


St. John, N.B. 


58'5 


Halifax, N.S. 


61 -6 


„ Montreal, Que. 


648 


Toronto, Ont. 


641 


Inland. — Winnipeg, Man. 


597 


Paa/?c— Victoria, B.C. 


57-0 



Winter. 


Range between 


(January, Feb- 


Mean Summer 


ruary, March.) 


and Winter. 


198 


42-1 


22'3 


3°'2 


247 


369 


I7'I 


477 


246 


395 


15 


58-2 


41-0 


l6'0 



Forests. — Speaking generally, British North America is a region of 
forest, and east of Winnipeg almost all of the land which is now under 
cultivation has been cleared of the heavy growth of timber which once 
covered it. Extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and with a width 
of from 200 to 300 miles, is the vast sub-Arctic forest which is composed 
largely of black and white spruce (Abies nigra and A. alba) and larch 
(Larix Americana). These trees have essentially the same northern limit, 
the black spruce dwindling to a shrub before it disappears, while the 
others retain throughout their tree-like character. The northern limit of 
the forest, and the southern edge of the " Barren Lands " is not determined 
by winter cold, or mean annual temperature, but is controlled entirely by 
the length and warmth of the summer ; the northern limit of the forest 
closely follows the line of a mean summer temperature of 50 F. 

In eastern Canada this sub-Arctic forest merges on the south into a forest 
of deciduous trees, characterised by the great number and variety of its 
species, there being sixty-five species in Ontario alone. In western Canada 
the trees of the more southern forest continue chiefly coniferous in type, 



Dominion of Canada 683 

but on account of the moistness of the climate many attain to gigantic size. 
In central Canada the coniferous forest is skirted by a belt fifty to a 
hundred miles wide of intermittent forest of aspen (Populus tremuloides), 
south of which are the open grassy plains, where the climate is too dry for 
the growth of continuous woods. 

Fauna. — One of the most interesting animals to be found on the con- 
tinent is the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), which lives, even in winter, on 
the Barren Lands and on the Arctic islands. Barren-ground caribou 
(Rangifer graznlandicns) roam . in great herds over the same plains in 
summer, but in winter most of them go south within the edge of the 
forest. The five remaining species of deer, including the moose (Alces 
Americanus), and the waskasew, or American elk (Cervus Canadensis) inhabit 
different parts of the woodland area. to the south. Bison (Bos Americanus) 
formerly ranged in countless herds over the plains and prairies east of the 
Rocky Mountains, but in the wild state they are now practically extinct. 
Prong-horned antelope are still fairly numerous on the plains, and moun- 
tain sheep and mountain goats are to be found in most of the more 
inaccessible parts of the Cordilleras. The sub-Arctic forest is the home of 
the most important fur-bearing animals, including the beaver, bear (brown 
and black), marten, musk rat, otter, fisher, fox (black, red, and white), mink, 
lynx, skunk, and wolverine. Most of the birds are migratory, breeding 
during the summer in the north, and going south as the winter sets in. 
Perhaps the most interesting bird is the Canada jay, or whiskey-jack 
(Perisorens Canadensis), which lives throughout the year in the sub-Arctic 
forest, and nests and hatches its young in February and March, during 
the severe cold of the winter season. The coastal waters, rivers and lakes 
abound in fish, among which the most important are the cod, salmon, 
herring and whitefish. 

People. — When the country was discovered by Europeans, it was 
occupied by a scattered native population, who were 
then called Indians. Their descendants are still 
scattered throughout the whole Dominion, those in the 
more thickly inhabited districts having adopted the 
habits and modes of life of the white people in the 
vicinity, while those in the more remote regions still 
live by hunting and fishing. The Indians now number 
about 100,000, or about one-fiftieth of the population. 

_. ....... , , , ., ., FlG. 339. — Average pop- 

They are divided into a large number of tribes, u i a tion of a square 
which belong to about ten or eleven distinct linguistic mile of the Dominion 
stocks. Of these the Algonkian is much the largest 
and most important, for its people occupy the greater part of the sub- 
Arctic forest from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and they are, 
par excellence, the fur hunters of Canada. They travel chiefly on the lakes 
and streams, the birch-bark canoe being their peculiar boat, and the birch- 
bark tent, or wigwam, their home. The Crees, Ojibways, and Blackfoot 



684 The International Geography 

belong to this stock. North of them, to the edge of the Barren Lands 
between Hudson Bay and the Pacific, are the tribes of the Tinne stock, who 
are for the most part deer hunters. Further north the Eskimo, or Innuits 
(Inwi), inhabit the whole northern coast from the Strait of Belle Isle to 
Alaska, including parts of the shores of Hudson Bay. They are strong 
and well-built, good hunters, endowed with remarkable perseverance, and 
capable of enduring great fatigue. They live chiefly on marine animals, 
which they kill with a spear or harpoon, but there is also an inland tribe 
on the banks of Kazan river, west of Hudson Bay, which subsist almost 
entirely on reindeer. The Iroquois were the ablest, both intellectually and 
physically, of all the North American Indians, and their Confederacy, 
known as the Six Nations, for a long time held the balance of power 
between the early English and French settlers. They now live in the 
settled parts of Ontario and Quebec. The Sioux, or Assiniboines, live on 

the western interior plains, while 
the Haida, Kwakioor, Tsimshiian, 
Salish, and Kootenay live on the 
coast or in the broken mountainous 
districts of British Columbia. 

Of the population of Canada in 
1891, 86 per cent, were born in 
Canada, and 10 per cent, in other 
parts of the British Empire. Of 
these 29 per cent, speak French, 
while almost all the rest speak 
English. Forty-one per cent, are 
Roman Catholics, while most of 
the remainder belong to various 
Protestant denominations. 

In the unoccupied parts of the 
western provinces and territories, 




FlG. 340. — A typical Township Plan of 36 square 
miles showing Sections and Quarter-sections. 



land may be obtained either free or at a nominal cost by any one willing to 
settle upon and work it. This land is held as the property of the Dominion 
Government until allocated, and the Dominion Land Survey is charged 
with surveying the unoccupied country and marking it out into rectangular 
townships, each of six miles square divided by lines running north and 
south and east and west into thirty-six sections of one square mile each. 
Thus every piece of land is readily identified. 

Internal Communications. — The great rivers and lakes of Canada 
have furnished means of access from the coast to the interior from the 
dates of the very earliest settlements. This is especially true of the St. 
Lawrence, which is navigable to Montreal for ocean-going steamers 
drawing 27^ feet of water. Thence steamers can ascend to the .head 
of Lake Superior, the obstructions in the rivers being overcome by eight 
canals and fifty-four locks, which have a depth of fourteen feet or more. 



Canada — Nova Scotia 



68 5 



The Saskatchewan and its branches are continuously navigable for 
steamers of light draft for 1,200 miles ; the Mackenzie and its tributaries 
have 4,300 miles of navigable waters, broken at only three places by rapids 
or falls. In the Yukon basin there are about 2,600 miles of continuous 
navigation. 

An extensive system of railways now unites the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean, serving the whole of the settled part of the country and opening up 
much of the interior to settlement. The total length of these railways in 
1902 was i8,7i4miles (see Fig. 336), and large schemes of railway extension 
have been proposed. 

Government. — The Dominion of Canada is a federation of self- 
governing colonies associated for common affairs. The Dominion 
Government consists of (1) a Governor-General appointed by the British 
Government to represent the Crown for a term of five years ; (2) a Senate 
of 81 members appointed by the Crown (on the advice of the Privy Council 
of Canada) for life; (3) a House of Commons of 213 
members, elected for five years on a very liberal fran- 
chise, liable to be dissolved by the Governor-General 
on the advice of the Ministry ; (4) an Executive 
Ministry composed of 13 or more members, having 
seats in the two Houses of Parliament, and holding 
office only so long as it has the support of the majority 
of the members of the House of Commons ; (5) a 
Dominion Judiciary composed of six judges, acting as 
a Court of Appeal from all the provincial courts, ^ear^gso} thTrnZ- 
though its decisions are subject to review on appeal nion of Canada. 
by the Judicial Committee of the Queen's Privy Council in London. 
In each of the provinces there is a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by 
the Governor-General in Council for a term of five years ; a Legislative 
Assembly composed of members elected for terms of four or five years ; 
and also in Nova Scotia and Quebec a Legislative Council or upper house 
appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council for life. There is also 
an Executive Council of from 5 to 12 members, who hold office as long as 
they are supported by a majority in the popular Assembly. A Judiciary 
in each of the provinces is appointed by the Governor-General in Council. 
Besides these there are in most of the provinces municipal or local 
councils, who have the control of their local affairs, and have the power to 
tax for the support of schools and the prosecution of public works of a 
local character. 

NOVA SCOTIA 

Position and Coasts. — Nova Scotia, the most south-easterly pro- 
vince of the Dominion of Canada, consists of a long and rather narrow 
peninsula, extending in a south-west and north-east direction, and the 
large island of Cape Breton, lying off its north-eastern end. It lies 
3 




686 The International Geography 

between 59 J° and 66° W. long., and 43 £° and 47 N. lat., being thus in the 
same latitude as Switzerland and the south of France. Near the middle 
of its north-western side it is connected with New Brunswick by an 
isthmus which at one point is only 16 miles in width. 

The south-western portion of the peninsula has the Bay of Fundy and 
Chignecto Bay on the south, while the north-eastern end of the peninsula 
and Cape Breton Island are bounded on the north by Northumberland 
Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Gut of Canso, only a mile and 
a half in width at its narrowest part, separates Cape Breton Island from 
the mainland, and the island itself is almost divided by an arm of the sea 
known as Great Bras d'Or. The Atlantic coast is bold and rocky, and is 
indented by many bays, almost all of which furnish safe anchorage for the 
largest ships. On the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy the coast is 
much less broken, and the northern shore forms a moderately regular coast 
from Bay Verte round the north point of Cape Breton. Pictou Harbour 
is the most important of the several good harbours on the north coast. 

Along the southern coast of the province, where the waves of the 
Atlantic Ocean have carved the shore into very irregular shapes, there are 
many small rocky islands. Sable Island lies 85 miles out in the open 
Atlantic. It is a chain of sand dunes, 20 miles long and a mile wide, 
resting on a more elevated part of the submarine banks, and forming a 
great danger to shipping. Lighthouse and life-boat men are the only 
inhabitants. 

Configuration. — The surface of the province is rather irregular, 
being formed of ridges, often diffuse and indefinite, which run more or 
less parallel to the long axis of the peninsula, and intervening plains and 
valleys. These ridges, which nowhere rise more than 1,200 feet above 
the sea, are formed, like those of Newfoundland, by the outcrops of 
harder rocks. The highest range, known as the Cobequid Mountains, runs 
from the Bay of Fundy eastward to the Gut of Canso. A high bold 
ridge of trap, known as North Mountains, forms the southern shore of 
the Bay of Fundy, extending from Brier Island to Cape Blomidon, on 
the south side of which, underlain by Triassic sandstone, is the Annapolis 
valley, the garden of the province. Farther south, where the country is 
underlain by Cambrian schists, quartzites, and intrusive granites, agricultural 
land is mainly confined to the river valleys. 

Climate. — The climate of this and the adjoining provinces of New 
Brunswick and Prince Edward Island is more humid and much more 
variable than that of central Canada, and fogs are common along the 
northern and eastern coasts, where the cold Arctic currents hug the shore. 

People and Industries. — Nova Scotia was probably the land dis- 
covered by Lief Ericsen, the Northman, in a.d. iooo, and it was redis- 
covered by Cabot in 1498, shortly after which its shores and harbours were 
resorted to by French and Portuguese fishermen. In 1605 the -French 
founded the first European settlement on the shores of Annapolis basin, and 



Canada— Prince Edward Island 687 

for the next century, until the Peace of Utrecht was signed between France 
and the United Kingdom, Acadia (French, Acadie) remained in the hands 
of the French ; then under the name of Nova Scotia it became a British 
colony and entered the Dominion of Canada on its formation. Most of 
the present population have been born in the province, but their ancestors 
were immigrants from different parts of Great Britain. Living within the 
sound of the sea, and near a coast indented with many good harbours, 
they naturally turn to the ocean for their means of subsistence. The 
fisheries therefore, especially of cod and lobsters, form the most important 
industry in the province. More than 14,000 boats and vessels and 27,000 
men are engaged in this industry. 

In the northern part of the province coal mines are extensively worked, 
the total amount raised in 1901 being 4,200,000 tons, while in the southern 
portion of the province gold is mined. Iron and gypsum are the other 
chief mineral products. 

Halifax, the capital, is situated about the middle of the south-east coast, 
on a magnificent natural harbour, the nearest to Europe on this continent 
that is open and free of ice all the year round. It is an important coaling 
station for the British fleet, and is strongly fortified and garrisoned by 
Imperial troops. 

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 

Position and Surface. — Prince Edward Island, the smallest province 
in the Dominion of Canada, lies within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between 
latitude 46 and 47 N., being separated from New Brunswick and Nova 
Scotia by Northumberland Strait which is only ten miles wide at its 
narrowest point. The island is 145 miles long, with a breadth of from 5 to 
35 miles. Its coast is very irregular, projecting in long low points, and cut 
into deep bays, many of which have bars of sand stretching across them, 
though these bars are usually broken through sufficiently to allow vessels 
of light draught to enter. The island is underlain by soft red sandstones 
of Permo-Carboniferous and Triassic age, which weather down readily 
and evenly, and on this account the surface is without strongly marked 
prominences and nowhere rises more than 500 feet above the sea. 

Resources and People. — The soil, like the underlying rock, is red 
in colour, and is very fertile, so that agriculture occupies the attention 
of the people to a large extent. Potatoes and oats are the chief products, 
but cheese and butter are ilso now becoming important. Many fine 
horses are also reared. Next to agriculture fishing is the chief industry, 
the lobster-fishing being the most important, while the oyster-beds furnish 
more than half the oysters collected in Canada. The province is the 
most thickly peopled in the Dominion, the average density being 54 to the 
square mile. The people are mostly native born, but about half are of 
Scottish descent. The province joined the Dominion in 1873. Charlotte' 
town, the capital, is situated on an excellent harbour on the south coast. 



688 The International Geography 

NEW BRUNSWICK 

Position and Surface. — New Brunswick is roughly rectangular in 
shape with a greatest length from north to south of 205 miles. Exclusive 
of islands it lies between 45 and 48°N., being thus in the same latitude as 
central France, or southern Hungary. It has land boundaries with the 
province of Quebec on the north, the State of Maine on the west, and 
the province of Nova Scotia at the isthmus of Chignecto in the east. Its 
coasts face the Gulf Of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy. There are 
many good harbours, though the east coast is for the most part low, with 
outlying sandy shoals. Bay Chaleur, to the north, is 85 miles long, and 
free of rock and shoals, while the Bay of Fundy on the south is noted as 
having the highest tides in the world, the spring tides at the head of the 
bay rising 50 feet. 

The central tract, underlain by rocks of Carboniferous age, is a 
low-lying plain, seldom rising more than a few hundred feet above the 
sea, and sloping gently towards the east coast. Both it, and much of 
the higher country in the north-west portion of the province, underlain 
by Silurian rocks, are well adapted for agriculture, but as yet only a small 
portion is cultivated. The country underlain by disturbed and altered 
crystalline and Cambrian rocks along the south coast, and stretching 
diagonally north-eastward through the province, is much more rugged and 
broken, the latter belt rising into numerous high peaks ; Bald Mountain, 
the highest, reaches 2,470 feet. The whole country, both highlands and 
lowlands, is almost everywhere covered with a forest of spruce (Picea alba). 

Rivers. — New Brunswick is a land of many and beautiful rivers, 
which flow either southward into the Bay of Fundy or eastward into the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence ; several of them are navigable by river steamers. 
The St. John, 450 miles long, rises in the State of Maine, and at its mouth 
it flows through a rocky gap only 400 feet in width, where, at ebb tide, 
there is a heavy fall towards the harbour, while at flood tide there is a fall 
in the opposite direction. Four times a day, at half tide, ships can pass 
in or out through the narrow gap. Above this reversible fall the river is 
navigable for river craft for 212 miles to Grand Falls. 

People and Resources. — The province was originally settled by the 
French, but the present inhabitants, are chiefly descendants of British 
emigrants. Hitherto the forests have been the chief sources of wealth to 
the people. Pine was formerly abundant, but has now become very scarce, 
the forests being almost entirely composed of spruce. Only the larger 
trees are cut, while the smaller ones are carefully preserved, so that 
in this way any district can be economically " cut over " every ten or 
fifteen years. Fishing is the industry of second importance, though it is 
chiefly carried out along the shore, but few vessels being engaged in deep- 
sea fishing. A considerable number of people are engaged in agriculture, 
all the ordinary products of temperate climates being produced. 



Canada— Quebec 689 

Towns. — St. John, the largest and most important commercial city 
in the province, is situated on a rocky peninsula where the St. John 
river flows into the Bay of Fundy. It has an excellent harbour, open 
all the year round, for in winter it is kept clear of ice by the tides, which 
here rise 25 feet. It is thus busy in winter when the St. Lawrence is 
frozen. In the days of wooden ships St. John was a famous ship-building 
town, and even now. a very large number of vessels are owned in the 
city. Fredericton, the capital of the province, is situated on the St. John 
river, 86 miles from its mouth, and the tide ascends the river to a short 
distance above it. Moncton, on the Petitcodiac river, is a considerable 
manufacturing centre. 

QUEBEC 

Position and Boundaries. — The province of Quebec lies between 
59 and 79J W., and between 45 and 53 N. It is bounded on the 
west by the province of Ontario and a short section of the east coast of 
Hudson Bay ; on the south by the States of New York, Vermont, New 
Hampshire, and Maine, and the province of New Brunswick ; on the east 
by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that portion of Labrador attached to New- 
foundland ; and on the north by the district of Ungava. Its total area is 
about one-sixth less than the combined areas of France and Germany. 

Its coast line, with the exception of 100 miles on Hudson Bay, is entirely 
confined to the Gulf and Estuary of the St. Lawrence. The north shore, 
from the Strait of Belle Isle westward, is bold, rocky, and quite bare of 
trees as far as Cape Whittle, beyond which it becomes slightly lower ; trees 
appear in some of the valleys, and in a few places small patches of land 
have been brought under Cultivation. Close to the shore are many bare 
rocky islands. The south shore of the estuary is formed of bold, rocky 
hills, most of which are covered with forest. 

Of the islands included in the province the Magdalens, a cluster of 
rocky knolls, often connected by bars of sand, very dangerous to shipping, 
rise in the centre of the southern half of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Anticosti, which lies in the mouth of the estuary of the St. Lawrence, is 
140 miles long, but has no good harbours, and is almost uninhabited. 

Configuration. — The province is naturally divided into three parts. 

(1) The Laurentian Plateau is an undulating rocky country north 
of the St. Lawrence, lying between 500 and 2,000 feet above the sea, 
chiefly underlain by granites, gneisses, and other rocks of Laurentian 
age, while here and there are areas underlain by highly altered sediments 
of Huronian age. In the vicinity of lakes St. John and Mistassini 
small outliers of comparatively unaltered Cambrian and Silurian rocks are 
also included. The region has all been severely glaciated and there is 
little residuary soil remaining anywhere. The summits of the low, 
rounded hills are bare, while the depressions are either occupied by 
irregular lakes of beautifully clear water, or are filled with stony clay, 



690 The International Geography 

which is usually covered with a scattered and stunted forest of spruce and 
larch, and a deep bed of moss. On the better-drained land, along the 
streams and lakes there are often extensive forests of large pine and spruce. 
Seen from the valley of the St. Lawrence the edge of this plateau has the 
appearance of a range of low rounded mountains, to which the name 
Laurentide Mountains has been applied. Among the highest points are 
Les Eboulements, 2,547 feet, and Trembling Mountain, 2,380 feet. 

The streams flowing from the small lakes form a succession of quiet, 
lake-like reaches of water separated by short, rapid chutes or falls. This 
feature, which is characteristic of most of the streams throughout the 
great Archaean continental nucleus, has rendered it possible to travel very 
extensively in canoes or small boats, which with their cargoes may be 
carried on "portages" over narrow rocky ridges, and past intervening falls. 
Most of the streams flowing southward to the St. Lawrence are of this 
type until they reach the edge of the plateau, or " Fall line," where they 
plunge in one or more heavy falls to the plains below. Montmorency Fall, 
near Quebec, 224 feet high, is a fine example of these cataracts. 

(2) The St. Lawrence Plain has an area within the province of about 
10,000 square miles. It is a long and comparatively narrow belt between 
the foot of the Laurentian Plateau and the highlands south of the river. 
Beginning a short distance below the city of Quebec it gradually rises, until, 
at the west end of the province, it has a maximum elevation of between 300 
and 400 feet above the sea. It is underlain by more or less flat-lying Silu- 
rian limestones and sandstones. Towards the close of the Glacial Epoch, 
when the land was much lower than it is at present, the estuary of the St. 
Lawrence extended far beyond the site of the present city of Montreal, and 
a varying thickness of sand and clay was deposited in it. Since the land 
has been again uplifted these sands and clays form the fertile soil on which 
the agricultural prosperity of the province depends. On this plain a few 
hills of trappaean rock, such as Mount Royal behind Montreal, rise above 
the general level. 

(3) The Highlands south of the St. Lawrence form the northern con- 
tinuation of the Appalachian Chain which extends northward through the 
eastern United States. They are known as the Notre-Dame Mountains in 
the southern portion of the province, and the Shickshocks in the Gaspe 
peninsula, the highest points in the latter portion of the range rising to 
nearly 4,000 feet. They are formed of parallel ridges of rock, usually 
standing at high angles, and varying in age from Archaean up to Devonian. 
Much of the country is thickly forested. South of the St. Lawrence, lakes 
are not numerous and all the principal streams run in the moderately high 
country beyond the Notre-Dame and Shickshock Mountains and flow 
northward through these mountains in deep, narrow channels. 

Climate. — The climate is continental. The winters are 'clear, with 
a mean temperature of 14 F., while the summers are warm and bright, 
with a mean temperature of 6o° F. The average precipitation is about 



Canada — Quebec 



'91 



36 inches per annum. In the southern portion of the province all the 
ordinary cereals usually grown in temperate climates come to perfection. 

History and People. — The discovery of Quebec dates from 1534, 
when Jacques Cartier entered the St. Lawrence river, but it was not until 
1608, when the city of Quebec was founded as a fur-trading station, that 
any successful attempt was made at settlement. From that time onwards 
for a century and a half, settlers from France spread over the country, most 
of whom were engaged in the double occupation of collecting rich furs 
from the Indian hunters, and clearing and tilling the fertile soil. In 1760, 
during the Seven Years' War, the country fell into the hands of the British 
through the capture of Quebec by Wolfe. In 1774 the French, who at 
that time numbered 70,000, were assured by the " Quebec Act " the right 
to be governed by their own civil laws, which right they still enjoy. 
Eighty-five per cent, of the people of Quebec province are of French 
race and Roman Catholic religion, and the French language is used 
officially as well as English. 

Resources. — Most of the population are engaged in agriculture ; oats 
barley, wheat, maize, hay and tobacco are the chief products, while 
fruits, such as apples, pears and plums, are extensively grown. Horses 
and cattle are also raised in large numbers, and much attention is paid 
to the making of cheese and butter. The timber industry is next in 
importance to agriculture, white pine, spruce and larch being the principal 
woods brought into the market. Fishing is important in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. Gold is found in alluvial deposits on the Chaudiere river. 
Asbestos is largely mined in the country south of the St. Lawrence, while 
copper, iron, mica and graphite are also worked to some extent. 

Towns. — Montreal, founded in 1642, is situated on an island at the 
junction of the Ottawa and the 
St. Lawrence rivers at the head 
of ocean navigation, any vessel 
that can enter the harbour of 
New York or Boston being able 
to steam up to its wharves. The 
extensive system of inland navi- 
gation, which reaches into the 
very heart of the continent, 
begins above the city, and the 
St. Lawrence is crossed by its 
first bridge. It is the principal 
seaport, and the largest city in 
the Dominion, and is the main 

eastern terminus of the Grand 
™ , , _ ,. _ ._ .. Fig. 342. — Site of Montreal. 

Trunk and Canadian Pacific rail- 
ways. It is an important manufacturing centre. The population is more 
than half of French extraction. 





Fig. 343. — Site of Quebec. 



692 The International Geography 

Quebec, one of the oldest cities on the continent, was founded by 
Champlain in 1608. The present city is situated partly on a bold pro- 
montory on the north side of the 
St. Lawrence, and partly at the 
foot of the cliffs close to the river 
bank. In front of it is a mag- 
nificent basin, in which the largest 
ships afloat can ride in safety. It 
is the capital of the province, has 
beautiful parliament buildings, an 
important Roman Catholic uni- 
versity, and its citadel, situated on 
the summit of the rocky cliff over- 
looking the river, has often been 
spoken of as the " Gibraltar of 
America." The population is 
mostly of French descent, and 
French is more spoken than English. Hull, on the Ottawa river, and 
Sherbrooke, near Montreal but south of the St. Lawrence, are also thriving 
manufacturing towns. 

ONTARIO 

Position and Boundaries. — The province of Ontario lies between 
42 and 52 N., and 74 and 95 W. It is bounded on the south and south- 
west by the States of New York, Michigan, and Minnesota ; on the east by 
the province of Quebec, and on the north and north-west by the district 
of Keewatin. Its total area is somewhat larger than either France or 
Germany, and its greatest length from east to west is about 1,000 miles. 

The province lies almost entirely inland, for the only place where it 
reaches the sea is on the shallow coast of Hudson Bay, with no harbours 
that will accommodate large ocean-going vessels. But most of its 
southern border lies along the Great Lakes, which, with their connecting 
rivers, give it a shore line, acces- 
sible for about eight months of the 
year, of 1,700 miles. The steamer 
traffic on the great lakes may be 
judged from the fact that a greater 
tonnage passes through the " Soo " 
canals, which avoid the rapids at 
Sault St. Marie between Lake Huron 
and Lake Superior, than through 

the Suez Canal. The Canadian 
, . _ . , _ . . T , . , Fig. 344. — The " Soo " Canals. 

shores of Lakes Ontario, Erie, and 

part of Huron are low and moderately regular. The northern shore of 

Lake Huron lies along the edge of the Laurentian Plateau, and is fringed 




SUPE 



Canada— Ontario 693 

with a vast number of small rocky islands ; the northern shore of Lake 
Superior is very bold, with deep bays and comparatively few islands, all 
of which are rugged and picturesque. 

Configuration. — The surface contour is but slightly accentuated, 
most of it being less than 1,200 feet above the sea, while very few, if any, 
points rise to a height-of 2,000 feet. It is divided naturally into four main 
subdivisions. (1) A relatively small area sloping gently northward towards 
Hudson Bay, and underlain by flat-lying Silurian and Devonian limestones. 
This is very largely covered with swamp or morass, and much of it is 
thinly wooded with small spruce and larch. Except a few fur-traders and 
missionaries it has no white inhabitants. (2) The Laurentian Plateau, 
a continuation westward of the same region in the province of Quebec, 
forms by far the largest part of the province, though most of it is yet 
a wilderness. It is almost entirely underlain by Laurentian and Huronian 
rocks intricately folded and squeezed together, the former being essentially 
granitic in type. The Huronian rocks consist of sandstones and clays 
associated with traps and other igneous and intrusive rocks, and are of 
especial importance on account of the rich minerals associated with them. 
Where the character of the rock varies greatly within comparatively short 
distances, as near the north shore of Lake Superior, there are high hills 
and deep valleys, but in other places the surface is mamillated with many 
low rounded hills and shallow rock-bound basins filled with clear water 
or mossy swamps. Usually the summits of the hills are almost naked 
rock, supporting but a stunted forest growth, the valuable forests of spruce 
and pine being confined to the richer and moderately well-drained valleys ; 
but near the great lakes the rock is often covered by extensive deposits 
of sand and clay, laid down in the beds of these lakes when, towards the 
close of the Glacial Epoch, their waters stood at much higher levels than 
at present, and on these lacustral deposits grow some of the finest pine 
forests in Canada. The southern end of the Laurentian Plateau crosses the 
Ottawa river at the Chats Rapids and strikes southwards to the Thousand 
Islands on the St. Lawrence. (3) East of this boundary comes the 
western extension of the St. Lawrence Plain underlain by flat-lying 
Cambro-Silurian rocks, over most of which is a Pleistocene deposit of 
marine sands and clays. As yet it is not very thickly settled except along 
the banks of the rivers. (4) From the Thousand Islands the southern edge 
of the Laurentian Plateau strikes westward to Matchedash Bay, at the 
south-eastern extremity of Georgian Bay, and south of this line is the 
district known as the Ontario peninsula which is the most fertile and 
thickly peopled portion of Canada. It is underlain by flat-lying Silurian 
and Devonian rocks, chiefly limestones, over which there is almost every- 
where spread a covering of till or glacial detritus from the old northern 
ice-sheets ; this till forms some of the richest soil to be found on the 
continent. In places the till is again overlaid by lacustral deposits formed 
in the beds of the great post-glacial lakes. This district is divided by 



694 The International Geography 

the Niagara escarpment, a bold cliff of Silurian shales and limestones, 
which crosses the Niagara river at Queenston, skirts the south shore of 
Lake Ontario to Hamilton, and thence strikes northward to the Bruce 
Peninsula, between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, finally forming the 
backbone of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. 

Smaller Lakes and Rivers. — Lake Nipigon, with an area of 1,450 
square miles, is probably the largest of the many lakes occupying depres- 
sions in the Laurentian Plateau, while the Lake of the Woods (Fig. 47), on 
the extreme western edge of the province, is of about equal size. Along 
the edge of the Laurentian Plateau a narrow chain of lakes has been 
formed, among which are those of Balsam and Scugog. In the Ontario 
peninsula, north of the Niagara escarpment, there are a few very pictu- 
resque lakes, Lake Simcoe being the largest, and well known as a summer 
resort. 

The streams of Ontario province belong to three different drainage- 
areas — (1) those flowing southward into the great lakes ; (2) northward 
into Hudson Bay, these being the longest in the province ; and (3) west- 
ward into Lake Winnipeg. 

History and Resources. — Ontario was first settled in 1776, after the 
close of the American Revolution, by United Empire Loyalists, men who 
had left the United States, and their property there, for the love of the 
United Kingdom and British institutions. That patriotism was strength- 
ened in 1812 when the armies of the United States invaded the country 
and were repulsed on every side after heavy loss. In 1791 the district 
was erected into a province, and since that time the population has grown 
quietly, mainly in the peninsula. Four-fifths of the inhabitants are 
Canadian born. 

A large number are engaged in agriculture, farming being the most 
important industry in the province. Wheat, oats, barley, maize, potatoes 
and hay are the principal crops. Stock-raising is also extensively carried 
on, and wool is of some importance. Cheese-making and dairying are also 
great and growing industries. Fruit is extensively grown, the principal 
kinds being apples, pears, peaches, plums and grapes. The chief fruit 
districts are in the peninsula near the shores of the great lakes. Lumber- 
ing is next in importance to agriculture, the timber-lands being leased for 
this purpose by the Government to private companies or individuals. The 
fisheries are confined to the great lakes where about 3,000 men are 
employed. 

With the exception of petroleum, the mineral industries of the province 
are yet in their infancy. Nickel ores occur in extensive deposits near 
Sudbury on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and an almost 
unlimited supply of the metal could be obtained if there were a sufficient 
demand. Copper is usually associated with the nickel in these ores. Gold 
is found in the Huronian rocks of the western portion of the province, and 
it is not improbable that many rich gold mines will soon be worked there. 



Canada — Manitoba 695 



Natural gas exists at several places in the southern portion of the peninsula. 
Salt and gypsum are also produced in considerable quantity. 

Towns. — Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion, is beautifully situated 
on the south bank of the Ottawa river just below the Chaudiere Falls. 
The Dominion Government buildings are of imposing character and finely 
situated. Ottawa has the most important lumber interests of any city in 
Canada. Several railways pass through it, and the Rideau Canal joins 
it to Kingston on Lake Ontario. Toronto is both the commercial and 
political capital of the province. It is built on a series of low terraces on 
the north shore of Lake Ontario between the mouths of the Don and 
1 1 umber rivers, and in front of it is an excellent harbour about 3^ square 
miles in extent, formed by a long sandy island which projects westward 
from the foot of the cliffs at Scarboro' Heights. It was founded by 
Governor Simcoe in 1793, on the site of an old French fort that had been 
built forty-four years before. It is the seat of numerous manufactories, 
several large industrial institutions, and being an important railway ter- 
minus is the principal distributing centre of the province. It is also a 
banking centre, many of the largest financial institutions in the Dominion 
making it their headquarters. Hamilton, situated at the head of a sheltered 
bay at the west end of Lake Ontario, is a manufacturing town. London 
is situated on the Thames river, in the centre of one of the finest farming 
districts in the province. Kingston, at the east end of Lake Ontario, is 
the oldest city in the province, and besides other educational institutions 
it contains a military college. 

MANITOBA 

Position and Surface. — The province of Manitoba lies in the very 
centre of the continent, being almost equidistant from the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts, and from the Arctic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In 
outline it is almost square, with sides about 270 miles in length. It 
extends along the 49th parallel of latitude, which is here the boundary 
with the United States (Minnesota and North Dakota) from the Lake 
of the Woods westward to the meridian of 101 , which forms the western 
boundary. On the east it is bordered by Ontario, and the North-West 
Territories lie on the north and west. 

The province falls naturally into three principal divisions, running in 
a general north-westerly and south-easterly direction. (1) The Laurentian 
Plateau, which lies east of the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, with its 
characteristic undulating rocky surface, dotted with small lakes, and 
traversed by many crooked, irregular streams. It is chiefly underlain 
by Laurentian rocks of granitic type. (2) The Lacustral Plain, or First 
Prairie Steppe, which includes rather more than half of the province, 
occupies part of the basin of an ancient glacial or post-glacial lake, 
which has been called Lake Agassiz. The thick beds of clay and silt 
deposited in that lake now form the rich wheat-producing soil of the 



696 The International Geography 

Red River valley. It is almost entirely underlain by flat-lying Silurian 
and Devonian limestones, and in its southern portion the original in- 
equalities of the rocky surface have been almost entirely levelled up 
by the lacustral deposits, while further north the rocky surface was 
more irregular, and was not so completely covered with clay, having 
long wide ridges and hollows, the most important of the latter being 
now occupied by Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba. Much 
of the country south of these lakes is open grassy prairie, while 
farther north it is more or less thickly wooded with spruce and poplar. 
(3) The Manitoba Escarpment borders the lacustral plain on the west," 
rising from 800 to 1,400 feet above the plain at its base. West of 
this escarpment comes the Second Prairie Steppe, in which the relief is 
more strongly pronounced, the rivers often flowing in valleys which they 
have cut to a depth of several hundred feet, while many of the stony hills 
are rough and steep. Much of the soil is of excellent quality, and in the 
southern portion of the province will grow large crops of wheat ; further 
north and on the higher tracts abundant crops of oats, barley, and the 
more hardy cereals and roots can be grown. This plateau is underlain 
by soft shales and sandstones of Cretaceous age. 

Winnipeg river, a large stream, broken up by many rapids and falls, 
flows into Lake Winnipeg from the Laurentian plateau on the east. The 
Red River of the North rises in the United States and flows northward 
to empty into the south end of the same lake, while its tributary, the 
Assiniboine, drains much of the western portion of the province. 

History and Towns. — The retired employes and dependents of 
the North-West and Hudson's Bay Fur-trading Companies formed the 
nucleus of the present population of the province, originally called the 
" Red River Settlement." In 1870 the population was about 12,000, while 
in 1901 it had risen to 255,000. Almost all the inhabitants, who include 
many immigrants from the United States as well as from Europe, derive 
their support, directly or indirectly, from agriculture. The principal 
crops are wheat, oats, barley, potatoes and flax, and of these the exports 
consist mainly of wheat, the arrangements for collecting and transporting 
which are highly organised. In the more northern parts of the province 
many farmers devote themselves to raising cattle, and to the making of 
cheese and butter. White-fish of the finest quality are caught in the large 
lakes of the province, and of late years the fishing industry has assumed 
considerable proportions. 

Winnipeg, the capital, and chief city of the province, is situated on the 
level lacustral plain, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. 
It is the distributing point and commercial focus of the whole of the 
Canadian North-West, one of the most important stations on the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, and a railway centre for lines from the United States as 
well. Brandon and Portage la Prairie are prosperous towns in the centre 
of rich wheat-growing districts on the Canadian Pacific line. 



Canada— British Columbia 697 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Position and Area. — British Columbia, stretching from the Rocky 
Mountains to the sea, is the largest province in the Dominion, having an 
area three times as large as the United Kingdom. Its greatest length, 
measured in a north-westerly direction, is 1,250 miles. It is bounded 
on the south by the United States, the parallel of 49 separating it from 
Montana, Idaho and Washington. On the west the Pacific Ocean, and 
farther north a narrow strip of the United States territory of Alaska, are 
the boundaries. On the east and north it is bordered by the North- West 
Territories, which separate it from the eastern provinces. 

Coasts. — Viewed as a whole the coast has a general trend in a north- 
westerly direction, but in detail it is very irregular, reaching back into 
deep, narrow fjords, and fringed by a maze of islands of all sizes. The 
fjords and straits are submerged valleys both in line with and transverse to 
the general direction of the mountain ranges. Of the fjords, Dr. G. M. 
Dawson writes : " Their width is usually from one to three miles, their shores 
rocky and abrupt, and rising towards the heads of the longer fjords into 
mountains from 6,000 to 8,000 feet in height. The water is deep, usually 
much too deep for anchorage, but at the head of each arm a delta-flat, 
formed by an entering river, is commonly found. Many good harbours 
exist along the coast, but the two best and most important of those on the 
mainland are Burrard Inlet, upon which the city of Vancouver is built, 
and Port Simpson, near the northern end of the coast of the province." 

Vancouver Island is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Juan 
de Fuca on the south, and the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte 
Sound on the north-east, these two being connected by narrow channels 
which at Seymour Narrows are less than half a mile in width. It has a 
length of 285 miles, and a greatest width of 80 miles. 

Mountains. — British Columbia is essentially a country of mountains. 
In the portion of the province north of latitude 54 , the breadth of the 
Cordillera or mountain belt, from south-west to north-east, is about 400 
miles. The mountains, as a rule, run in a north-westerly and south- 
westerly direction, and the two most conspicuous and important ranges 
run along opposite sides of the rhomb, the Rocky Mountains proper along 
the eastern side, and the Coast Range along its western side. At the 
international boundary the Rocky Mountains have an average width of 
about 60 miles, and many of the peaks reach heights of 10,000 feet, 
being snow-capped and abounding in fine glaciers. Further north the 
range decreases both in width and height, until in the vicinity of Peace 
river, in latitude 56 , it is only 20 miles wide, and but few of its peaks 
rise above 5,000 or 6,000 feet. This range is composed of stratified 
limestone, quartzites, and other rocks from Cambrian to Cretaceous ; 
granites and other crystalline rocks are almost entirely absent. The 
Rocky Mountain range is bounded on the west by the great Columbia- 



698 The International Geography 

Kootenay valley, which in its course north-westward is occupied succes- 
sively by the upper portions of the Kootenay, Columbia, Fraser, Parsnip, 
Findlay, and other rivers, which usually break through its western border 
to the sea. South-west of this great valley are the Selkirk and Gold ranges. 
The gold and silver recently discovered in southern British Columbia 
occur in these mountains. Between the Gold and the Coast ranges, the 
interior plateau attains an average width of 100 miles. To the south, it 
does not much exceed, on the average, a height of 3,000 feet, but it 
gradually decreases to 2,000 about latitude 54 , beyond which it is cut 
off by transverse ranges of mountains. In places it is so deeply dissected 
by streams and atmospheric agencies that it has lost all semblance of a 
plain, but in other places there are extensive almost level tracts, among 
which is much land suitable for ranching and agriculture. 

The Coast Range begins about latitude 49 , and runs north-westward, 
near the coast, for about 900 miles, with an average width of about 100 
miles. Many of its summits rise to heights of 7,000 and 8,000 feet, while 
its submerged valleys form deep fjords. Its seaward slopes, clothed 
with magnificent forests, rising to snow-capped peaks form some of 
the grandest scenery in the world. The mountains forming the back- 
bone of Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands are a subsidiary and 
partly submerged chain of the main range. The Coast Range is chiefly 
composed of granitic and highly altered sedimentary rocks. 

Hydrography. — In conformity with the structural lines of the 
country, the numerous lakes are long and narrow, lying either between 
the mountain ranges, or in the bottoms of the deeper parts of river 
valleys, which have been obstructed in some way. The Peace and 
Liard rivers rise in the north-eastern part of the province, and drain 
a large area eastward into the Mackenzie river. A small area in the 
extreme northern portion is drained by the headwaters of the Yukon. 
The remaining rivers flow towards the Pacific coast in very irregular 
channels, running between and across the ranges, and often doubling 
back parallel to their upper courses. Of these the principal is the 
Fraser, which rises on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, close 
to the source of the Athabasca, and flows at first north-westward, and 
then southward, to empty into the Strait of Georgia, having a total length 
of about 750 miles. The upper waters, of the Columbia river flow through, 
the province, the river being twice crossed by the Canadian Pacific 
Railway. The Skeena and the Stikine are both large rivers, navigable for 
small steamers in their lower courses. 

Climate. — The climate varies from temperate insular on the coast and 
islands, to extreme continental on the high interior uplands. The total 
annual precipitation in the valleys of the interior is about 15 inches ; at 
Victoria it is 40 inches, while in some parts of the coast to the north it 
exceeds 100 inches. It is thus, in some parts of the interior, possible 
to grow crops only with the aid of irrigation, while along portions 



Canada— British Columbia 699 

of the coast the excessive humidity practically precludes agriculture 
(see Fig. 338). 

History and People. — The coast of British Columbia was discovered 
and partly explored by Spanish voyagers, and by Cook in the course of his 
last voyage in 1778. In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie first crossed the interior 
on his journey from Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean, and early in the 
nineteenth century David Thompson explored and opened up trade routes 
into the country from the upper waters of the Saskatchewan and 
Athabasca rivers. In 1849 Vancouver Island was granted a Governor, and 
in 1856 it elected its first legislative body. The discovery of gold in 1857 
brought a rush of population to the province, and in 1866 Vancouver 
Island and the mainland were united under the name British Columbia. 
In 1 87 1 it entered the federal union of the Dominion, one condition of 
federation being the construction of a railway to the eastern provinces. 

Mines. — The wealth of the people depends very largely on mineral 
products. Gold was first discovered in auriferous sands and gravels on 
the Thompson and Fraser rivers and their tributaries in 1857 and 1858, 
and in the early "6o's" stories of the rich finds in the remote Cariboo 
district were common throughout the English-speaking world. Until 
recently this gold was almost entirely obtained from placer diggings, but 
rich gold-bearing lodes have been found in the West Kootenay district, 
which has consequently been made accessible by railways and steam- 
boats, so that the dwindling placer mines of the Cariboo district are 
thrown in the shade by the rich and rapidly developing lode mines of 
the south. In 1897, silver derived almost entirely from the silver-lead 
mines of the West Kootenay district, jumped to the first place among 
the mineral products, the total silver product exceeding in value that 
of gold. The amount of lead produced is very considerable, and some 
copper also is obtained. The coal mines of Vancouver Island have long 
held an important place on the Pacific coast, as they not only supply the 
province itself, but lead the market in the coast cities of the adjoining 
republic. Large coal-fields also exist in Queen Charlotte Islands, and 
in the interior, notably in the Crow's Nest Pass of the Rocky Mountains, 
through which a railway has been carried to the Kootenay gold and 
silver mining districts. 

Resources and Towns. — Throughout the province there is avast 
extent of country covered with forest, chiefly of conifers, among which the 
most valuable tree is the Douglas fir. Along the coast, and on Vancouver 
Island, there are many saw-mills which are supplied with this fir from the 
adjacent forests, and from which lumber is largely exported. The fisheries 
are another important source of wealth to the people. Salmon abound 
in many of the streams, and are caught and put up in cans for export in 
enormous quantities. Halibut, herring, rock-cod, &c, are also caught off 
the coast. The pelagic sealing fleet is also largely owned in this province. 

There is much good agricultural land in the southern portion of the 



700 The International Geography 

interior plateau, on the deltas, and in the valleys of the principal rivers 
where, in addition to cereal crops, fruit of many kinds is now beginning 
to be successfully cultivated. Difficulties of transport have heretofore 
limited farming, but stock-raising is an industry of considerable import- 
ance in the southern part of the interior. 

Victoria, the capital of the province, is situated on a good harbour at the 
south end of Vancouver Island. The provincial Parliament House is one of 
the finest buildings in Canada. Three miles to the west is the great naval 
harbour Esquimalt, the principal station for the North Pacific Squadron 
of the British fleet. Vancouver, the western terminus of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, is situated on the south shore of Burrard Inlet, one of the 

best harbours on the Pacific coast, 
and the point of departure of 
regular lines of steamers to Japan 
and New Zealand. Neiv West- 
minster, the first capital of the main- 
land province, a short distance up 
the Fraser river, was founded in 
1858. Rossland, on the gold-fields 
near the Columbia river, has sprung 
into existence as a city second in 
population only to Vancouver and 
Victoria, and provided with railway communication with the United States. 
In all the towns of the province there is a large Chinese element, most of 
the domestic servants and many labourers being Chinamen. Japanese 
immigrants are also met with ; but in spite of the mixture of races British 
Columbia is perhaps the most English of all the provinces of Canada in the 
life of the people as well as in the climate. 




Fig 345. — Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. 



THE TERRITORIES 

Territories. — Outside of the organised provinces of the Dominion 
there are vast areas which have long been known as the North-East and 
North-West Territories. Recently these have been divided into districts, 
some of which are provided with representative government, while others, 
whose only inhabitants are a few scattered Indian hunters, are governed 
by the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa. These districts are nine in number. 

Ungava. — The district of Ungava comprises the northern portion of 
the Labrador peninsula, north of the province of Quebec, except the 
eastern strip of coast which for 700 miles is under the jurisdiction of 
Newfoundland. The western side of the peninsula is tlje rocky eastern 
shore of Hudson Bay, indented by many deep narrow bays, and skirted 
by a large number of rocky islands. The interior is a gently undulating 
plateau underlain by Archaean and highly altered Cambrian rocks. The 
main watershed is about the middle of the southern boundary of the district, 



Canada— The Territories .701 

and from there the rivers flow northward, westward, and eastward, and 
also southward through the province of Quebec. On the long Hamilton 
river, which flows south-eastward to the Atlantic, are the Grand, or McLean 
Falls, where the stream plunges 300 feet over a cliff into a narrow rocky 
gorge. The country is more or less sparsely wooded as far north as the 
south end of Ungava Bay. 

Keewatin. — The south-western and western sides of Hudson Bay, 
and the country adjoining, are comprised within the great district of 
Keewatin. Its coast on Hudson Bay is exceedingly low and flat south 
of 6i° N. lat., while north of that latitude it becomes much more bold and 
rocky. The lagoon at the mouth of the Churchill river is the only good 
harbour on the more southern portion of this coast, and it remains unfrozen 
on the average for five months in the year. Most of the country is under- 
lain by Archaean rocks. South of 6o u N. the district is generally forested, 
scattered woods of small black spruce and larch growing on swampy 
tracts. North of 6o° N. it is almost entirely treeless, often forming an 
undulating stony plain, thinly covered with short grasses and sedges. Count- 
less herds of a small variety of reindeer roam over these plains. These are 
almost the only living creatures in. this country, the fur-bearing animals 
being confined to the forests further south. The district is entirely beyond 
the limits of settlement, and, as in Ungava, except a few white fur-traders 
the only inhabitants are Indians and Eskimo. 

The Organised Districts. — Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, 
lie between Manitoba and part of Keewatin on the east, and British 
Columbia on the west, and between latitudes 49 and 55°. They are spoken 
of as the organised districts, for they have a Lieutenant-Governor, an 
elected Parliament, and an Executive Council to attend to their local 
affairs, while at the same time they have representatives in both Houses of 
the Dominion Parliament in Ottawa. 

At its north-eastern corner the district of Saskatchewan touches the 
hummocky Laurentian plateau, and is underlain by rocks of Laurentian 
and Huronian age. South-west of this is a narrow strip underlain by 
Silurian limestones, while the whole remaining portion, to the foot of the 
steep cliffs of the Rocky Mountains, is underlain by soft clays and sand- 
stones of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, often covered by a thick mantle of 
drift. The rise from the Archaean plateau to the foot of the mountains 
averages 5^ feet to the mile. This rise is not regular, though it indicates 
the general slope of the country, but is most pronounced along the line of 
the Manitoba escarpment which marks approximately the eastern edge of 
the Cretaceous rocks, and along the Missouri Coteau, which separates the 
second from the third or highest prairie steppe. 

The Saskatchewan river, with its tributaries, drains the greater part of 

these districts. Most of its branches rise on the eastern slopes of the 

Rocky Mountains, some of the more northern ones being fed by glaciers, 

and, flowing eastward, unite into one great stream which empties into the 

4 



702 The International Geography 

north end of Lake Winnipeg. At the mouth of the river is a heavy rapid, 
with a descent of seventy feet, but above this the main stream is navigable 
for river-steamers for 900 miles, while the south branch is navigable for 
400 miles above its confluence. A small area in the south is drained 
southward towards the Missouri, while north of latitude 54 most of the 
country is drained northward either to the Mackenzie or to the Churchill 
rivers. The surface is very generally dotted with small lakes and ponds, 
usually shallow, which lie in hollows in the general covering of drift. 
Many of these are without outlet, and some are quite saline, chiefly from 
the presence of sulphate of soda. 

The whole of Assiniboia, and large tracts in the south of Saskatchewan 
and Alberta are treeless, except in the deep valleys, consisting of grassy 
plains or prairies, which usually extend to the horizon on every side. Or 
the level plain may be varied here and there by sandy or stony hills, 
appearing as high ridges in the distance, but on closer approach dwindling 
to grassy downs. A few plateau-like elevations, such as the Cypress and 
Hand Hills, rise 1,000 feet or more above the surrounding plain. The 
total area of this prairie country north of 49 N., including the prairie 
portion of Manitoba, is about 193,000 square miles. North of the treeless 
prairies comes a belt of varying width, consisting of open grassy glades 
alternating with groves of poplar, north of which again is the coniferous 
forest, composed chiefly of spruce and larch. 

People and Towns. — The inhabitants are partly Indians, while the 
remainder are immigrants from many parts of Europe and the eastern 
provinces of the Dominion. The attention of the people is almost entirely 
devoted to agriculture and raising live stock. In the more eastern parts 
of Assiniboia and in the partly wooded country near the banks of the 
Saskatchewan river, wheat, barley, and oats are grown to great perfec- 
tion. In the drier country farther south and west, most of the people 
are engaged in the raising of cattle, horses and sheep. Extensive beds 
of coal and lignite underlie large areas, ensuring an abundant supply of 
fuel. 

Regina, the capital of the North-West Territories, stands on a level 
plain on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and is the head-quarters 
of the North-West Mounted Police, who keep order over the whole region. 
Calgary, also on the railway, in the southern portion of Alberta, is the 
centre of the ranching country, and its handsome stone-built houses con- 
trast with the wooden or iron dwellings common in newly-settled districts. 
A branch line runs north to Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan. 

North-Western Districts. — The four districts of Athabasca, Mac- 
kenzie, Yukon, and Franklin, together make up a full third of- the Dominion 
of Canada. With the exception of Yukon, all of these districts are without 
white inhabitants, except a few fur-traders who have gone out into the 
wilderness to barter with the Indian hunters. The Indian population is 
estimated at about 32,000. Athabasca and Mackenzie are essentially 



Canada — The Territories 703 

similar in character. Their eastern half lies on the north-western extension 
of the Archaean plateau. Their western half is underlain by stratified 
limestones, shales, and sandstones, varying in age from Devonian up to 
Miocene. The north-eastern corner of Mackenzie lies within the area of the 
Barren Lands, beyond the limit of the growth of trees, while most of the 
remainder is covered with a forest of stunted spruce and larch, of no 
commercial value. 'In the south-western part of Athabasca there are open 
poplar woods, with some rather large tracts of open grassy prairie. Some 
portions of the country west of Athabasca have a height of 3,000 feet. 
while east of that river there are elevations of about 1,700 feet. From there 
the country has a gentle and fairly regular slope northward through 
Mackenzie to the Arctic Sea. The most conspicuous breaks in the general 
level of this plain are the cliffs on the north shore of Great Slave 
Lake, and the Copper Mountains, near the Coppermine river. The 
Athabasca-Mackenzie river traverses the whole length of the district. 
The furs secured by the Indians throughout the forests of this northern 
country are its principal source of wealth. Fish abound in the lakes and 
streams and furnish valuable supplies of food for the traders and Indians. 
Franklin consists of the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, varying in 
size from Baffin Land down to small reefs. These are underlain 
generally by rocks ranging in age from Archaean up to Carboniferous, the 
latter containing some good seams of coal, while in a few places Mesozoic 
and Tertiary rocks have been recognised. The greater part of the surface 
is not very high, and in general character is similar to the Barren Lands 
of the continent. Here the musk ox, polar bear, and reindeer have, as yet, 
a safe retreat. A few Eskimo are now the only inhabitants. 

Yukon. — Yukon Territory lies between the northern limit of British 
Columbia and the Arctic Sea, and between the summit of the Rocky 
Mountains on the east, and the boundary of Alaska on the west. In 
general character it is a northern extension of the mountainous region of 
British Columbia, though the ranges are not so distinct or regular. The 
streams which drain it are nearly all tributary to one great river, the 
Yukon, which is navigable by river steamers for 2,400 miles from one 
of its sources in Teslin Lake to the Bering Sea. Since 1897 discoveries 
of rich deposits of placer gold on the tributaries of the Yukon have 
attracted a large number of prospectors and miners from all parts of the 
world to this remote region, where the gold of the Klondike river has 
led to the growth of the town of Dawson. The gold produced in 1900 and 
1901 averaged £4,000,000 per annum in value. Access to Dawson is had 
bv rail from the United States port of Skagway in Alaska over the moun- 
tains to the navigable upper waters of the Yukon. Yukon Territory, in 
consequence of its position in relation to the Pacific and the ameliorating 
effects of the prevalent westerly winds, is by no means so rigorous in its 



704 The International Geography 

climate as those parts of the continent further to the east. Except in the 
extreme north, the lowlands are generally wooded, and hardy crops may 
be grown with some chance of success almost to the Arctic Circle. 



STATISTICS. 

AREA AND POPULATION OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 



Area in 
Provinces. square miles. 

Novia Scotia 20,600 

Prince Edward Island . . . . 2,000 

New Brunswick • 28,200 

Quebec 347.350 

Ontario 222,000 

Manitoba 73 9<5o 

British Columbia 3»3,300 

Territories. 

Assiniboia 89,535^ 

Saskatchewan 107,092 

Alberta 100,000 

Keewatin 75°,ooo 

Athabasca 251,300 

Mackenzie 563.200 

Yukon 198,300 

Ungava .. 456,oco 

Franklin Unknown 

Great Lakes of St. Lawrence .. 47, 4°° 



Totals 



3,653,950 



1881. 

44 ,572 

108,891 

321,233 

1,359,027 

1,926,922 

62,260 

49,459 



56,446- 



4,324,810 



Population. 

1891. 

450,396 

109,078 

321,263 

1,488,535 

2,114,321 

152,506 

98,173 



66,799 ■ 



32,168- 



4,833,239 



1901. 

459574 
103,259 
331,120 
1,648,898 
2,182,947 
255,211 
178,657 

67,385 

25,679 
65,876 
8.546 
6,615 
5,216 
27,218 
5,H3 



5,371,315 



POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS. 



Montreal 

Toronto 

Quebec. . 

Ottawa.. 

Hamilton 

Winnipeg 

Halifax. . 



1881. 
155,237 
96,196 
62,449 
31,307 
35,96o 
7,985 
36,100 



1891. 

216,650 

181 220 

63,090 

44,154 
48,980 
25,642 
38,556 



1901. 
267730 
208,040 
68,840 
59,928 
52,634 
42.340 
40,832 



St. John, N.B. . 
London, Ont. . 
Vancouver, B.C. 
St. Henri . . 
Victoria, B.C. . 
Kingston . . 
Brantford 



41,353 
26,206 

6,415 
5,925 
14,091 
9,616 



1891. 
39,179 
31,977 
13,685 
13,413 
16,841 
19,263 
12,753 



AREA AND ELEVATION ABOVE SEA OF THE LARGEST LAKES. 



1901. 
40,711 
37,98i 
26,133 
21,192 
20,816 
17.961 
16,619 



Superior 
Huron 
Great Bear 
Great Slave 
Erie 
Winnipeg 



Area in 
square miles. 
31,200 
23,800 
11,400 
10,100 
9,960 
9,400 



Elevation 
in feet. 
6oo - 5 
580 

34° 
520 
572 
710 



Ontario . . 

Athabasca 

Winnipegosis 

Manitoba 

Nepigon 



Area in 
square miles. 
7,240 
2,850 
2,000 
1,710 
1,450 



Elevation 
in feet. 
245-5 
690 
828 
810 
850 



Exports 
Imports 



AVERAGE ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling). 

1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95. 

16,500,000 .. 19,200,000 .. 22,500,000 

23,500,000 . . 23,300,000 . . 24,400,000 



II.— NEWFOUNDLAND 

By J. B. Tyrrell, M.A., B.Sc, 

Formerly of the Geological Survey of Canada. - 



Coast and Surface. — The large island of Newfoundland, lying across 
the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, extends from 46J to 51^° N. lat, 
separated from the mainland of Labrador by the Strait of Belle Isle, 
12 miles wide, and from Cape Breton by Cabot Strait 60 miles wide. 



Newfoundland 705 

It is roughly triangular in outline, each of its three sides being between 
300 and 400 miles in length ; but while the north-western shore is 
moderately straight, the southern and north-eastern shores are indented 
by many deep bays, and fringed with a great number of rocky islands, 
which form many magnificent harbours. The coast is for the most 
part bold and rocky, and its total length is about 2,000 miles. The 
large bays usually run in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction, 
and their shores are broken by many smaller bays. The bays of Notre- 
Dame and Bonavista on the north-east coast are marvellously fretted by 
little peninsulas and fringed with small islands. Heart's Content, on the 
north side of Trinity Bay, is the landing-place of the Atlantic cables. 
Burin Peninsula, with a length of 82 miles, lies between the great bays 
of Fortune and Placentia, while the peninsula of Avalon, in the south-east, 
on which the larger part of the population is settled, is almost cut off from 
the rest of the island by Placentia Bay on the south and Trinity Bay on 
the north, the neck of the peninsula being only three miles wide in its 
narrowest part. St. Mary's Bay and Conception Bay make great indenta- 
tions into this peninsula. 

The interior of Newfoundland is underlain chiefly by Archaean and 
early Palaeozoic rocks, arranged in long folds in a general north-easterly 
and south-westerly direction, parallel to the north-west coast, the older and 
harder rocks forming the ridges, while the softer and later rocks occupy 
the depressions. The Long Range, on the west side, is the highest and 
most important of the ridges, varying in height from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. 
The undulating surfaces of the rocky hills are dotted with an immense 
number of small ponds and lakes, from which flow many brooks to form 
the larger streams, the most important of which are the Exploits and 
Sanchau, discharging on the north-east coast, and the H umber river, dis- 
charging into the head of the Bay of Islands on the west coast. The tops 
of the rocky hills and ridges are for the most part scantily wooded or 
barren, while the river valleys and the land at the head of the deep bays 
are usually thickly wooded with large and valuable timber, chiefly white 
pine, spruce, larch and birch. 

Climate. — The Arctic current, bearing extensive fields of ice and 
many icebergs, flows southward past the east side of the island, and tends 
to lower the temperature in summer, but very extreme temperatures are 
unknown, the thermometer rarely falling below zero F. or rising above 
85 F. Dense fogs often hang over the south and east shores, but these 
do not extend many miles inland, and the weather in the interior is usually 
clear and bright. 

Resources and Industries. — Though there are large areas of good 
agricultural land in the interior, it has as yet been almost entirely 
neglected, for the surrounding ocean contains such an abundance of fish 
and seals that the catching and curing of them occupies almost the entire 
attention of the people. Early in March steamers and sailing vessels 



706 The International Geography- 
put to sea heavily manned, and seek the ice-floes drifting down from the 
north, on which the seals have brought forth their young. The sealing 
season lasts from March 16th to April 16th. After the sealing is over the 
season for cod-fishing begins, and lasts from June to November. The vast 

submarine plateau which extends 




StJohns 



C-tyetcnj; 4N 



.><&> 



\ V \ Grand \ 



■^^^m 



?v Banks ,i 



FIG. 346. — Newfoundland and the Grand Banks. 
The French shore is shown by a double line. 



around the south and east shores 
of Newfoundland, known as the 
Grand Banks, and covered with a 
depth of from 10 to 160 fathoms 
of water, is the greatest fishing- 
ground for cod in the world, and 
ships of many nations 'congregate 
there to gather the rich harvest 
from the sea ; and the bold and 
well- trained sailors from New- 
foundland, being nearest to the 
Grand Banks, and provided with 
a plentiful supply of bait (capelin, 
squid, &c), which swarm on their 
shores, come in for a full share 
of this harvest. The fish, when 
caught, are cleaned, salted and 
dried in the sun on stages, which 
may be seen almost everywhere. Herring, capelin, and other fish are caught 
in considerable quantity along the shore. Salmon are caught in the rivers, 
and of late years a considerable industry has grown up in the catching and 
canning of lobsters. Almost 90 per cent of the exports of Newfoundland 
consist of the products of the fisheries, more than half being dried codfish. 
Iron pyrites, copper and iron ore are the principal minerals at present 
worked, the first-named being exported to England for the manufacture of 
sulphuric acid. Coal is reported to exist in considerable quantity, chiefly 
on the west side of the island, and lead and nickel are also said to occur. 
The timber, is cut to some extent for local use. 

Population and History. — Newfoundland was discovered by John 
Cabot in 1497, at which time it was inhabited by the 
Beothuks, or Red Indians, a tribe whose exact affinities 
are now unknown, for the last survivor is supposed to 
have died in the early part of the nineteenth century. 
The fame of the cod-fishing off its shores soon spread 
through the maritime nations of Europe, and many 
ships from France, Spain, Portugal and England re- 
sorted every year to the Grand Banks, using the many FlG ' 347-— Thc Badge 
harbours of the island as bases of operations. In 1582 
an English Governor was appointed, and during the next fifty years several 
futile attempts were made at colonisation. Then for more than a century 




Fig. 348. — Average pop' 
illation of a square 
mile of Newfoundland. 



St. Pierre and Miquelon 707 

and a half colonisation was discouraged, the English merchants, who were 
amassing large fortunes by cod-fishing, not wishing to have to compete with 
inhabitants of Newfoundland. It was not till 1791 that a Supreme Court 
of Judiciary was erected in the island. At present there is a Governor 
appointed by the Crown, a Legislative Council, appointed for life by the 
Governor in Council, and a Legislative Assembly 
elected for four years by the whole people. The 
executive is in the hands of a Ministry having the 
confidence of the Assembly. For administrative pur- 
poses the coast of Labrador is considered as part of 
the colony of Newfoundland. 

The usual means of communication between one 
place and another has been by boats along the coast, 
but a railway now crosses the island from St. John's 
to Port aux Basques, passing through the most fertile 
and well-wooded districts, and it is expected not only to open much of the 
interior to settlement, but also to form a part of a line of rapid communi- 
cation between Europe and America. 

Towns. — St. John's, so called because the harbour was first entered 
by John Cabot on St. John's Day, is the capital. It is situated on the east 
side of Avalon Peninsula, at the head of a magnificent land-locked harbour 
a mile long and half a mile wide, which is entered through a deep, rocky 
passage only 200 yards wide at its narrowest part. In it the largest ships 
can ride in safety. It is the centre of the fishing trade of the island, and 
may become one of the most important ports on the Atlantic seaboard, 
when the railway across the island is connected by fast steamers with the 
Canadian railway system, for it is nearer Europe than any other port in 
America, being only 1,675 miles from Cape Clear on the west coast of 
Ireland. Harbour Grace, the next town in size, stands on Concepcion Bay. 

STATISTICS. 

Area of Newfoundland (square miles) 

„ Labrador (square miles) 

Population of Newfoundland 

Density of Population of Newfoundland (per square mile) 

Population of Labrador .... 

St. John's 

„ Harbour Grace 



ANNUAL TRADE (in pounds sterling). 



Imports 
Exports 



1891. 


1901. 


42,200 


42,200 


119,000 


119,000 


197,934 


217,037 


47 


5'a 


4,106 


3.947 


29,007 


29,594 


6,466 . 


5.184 


1881-85. 


1891-95. 


1,630,000 


. 1,400,000 


1,574,000 


. 1,350,000 



III.— ST. PIERRE AND MldUELON 

By M. Zimmbkmann.* 
St. Pierre and Miquelon.— The two little islands of St. Pierre and 
Miquelon with a permanent population of a few thousand persons, remain 
1 Translated from the French by the Editor. 



708 The International Geography 

in the possession of France as the only relics of the magnificent colonial 
empire she founded in North America. They lie close to the south of 
Newfoundland and, small as they are, only 93 square miles, they possess 
a real importance to the mother country on account of their proximity to 
the Grand Banks where large fleets of French fishing-boats are engaged in 
the capture of cod. The islands form the basis of the fish trade with 
France, and the exports of fish from the port of St. Pierre, on the island of 
the same name, are steadily increasing, their value in 1894 exceeding 
five million dollars. Miquelon, although the larger island, has very 
few inhabitants, and the rainy climate with its frequent fogs does not 
encourage immigration. In connection with these islands France retains 
certain fishing rights on the west coast of Newfoundland, which on that 
account is termed the French Shore (Fig. 346). 



St. Pierre 
Miquelon 



STATISTICS 

Area in square miles. 
10 
83 



(1892). 



Population. 
5.700 
550 



Density' of Population. 
570 
7 



IV.— BERMUDA 



By the Editor. 

Position and General Character. — A solitary bank rising abruptly 
from the depths of the North Atlantic in 32 N. and 65 W. bears a group of 
small islands of remarkable formation known as the Bermudas. Farther 

north than any other coral islands, 
they are of coral formation ; a 
consequence of the warm water 
carried northward by the great 
oceanic whirl of which the Gulf 
Stream forms part. The islands 
occupy a space of only twenty 
miles by five, but are surrounded, 
especially on the north and west, 
by a growing reef through which 
a few intricate channels admit 
vessels. Unlike other atolls the 
Bermudas are in parts hilly, the heights, which rise to 260 feet, being formed 
of blown coral sand, cemented by the action of rain into solidrock ; they 
are in fact petrified dunes. The sweeping curve of the hook-shaped main 
island brings it so close to the smaller members of the group that many of 
them are reached by bridges or causeways. The situation is as remarkable 
as the formation. From Bermuda as a centre a radius of 800 miles would 
sweep the coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras ; 
and a radius of 1,000 miles would sweep the east coast of Florida and the 
whole line of the Antilles from Cuba to Antigua. This gives the little 




Fig. 



349. — Bermuda Islands and reefs, 
map includes 30 miles by 20. 



The 



Bermuda 709 

group remarkable strategic value. Another element of importance is 
the climate, which is remarkably mild and equable. The temperature 
has never been known to fall below 40 ; the monthly mean of February, 
the coldest month, is nearly 63 ; that of August, the hottest month, does 
not exceed 8o°. Hence in spite of poor soil the islands have become 
noted for the growth of early vegetables of excellent quality, and for 
many subtropical products ; the staple crops for export to New York were 
in 1896, onions, early potatoes, and lily-bulbs. There is no lake nor stream 
in the islands, and the wells yield somewhat brackish water,. so that the 
inhabitants rely mainly on rain-water caught and stored in cisterns. 

History, Government and People. — The group was discovered in 
15 15 by a Spanish navigator, Bermudez, and from the usual pronunciation 
of his name it became known as the Bermoothes, a form perpetuated by 
Shakespeare when he laid the scene of " The Tempest " there. In 1609 
the shipwreck of Sir George Somers gave them the alternative name of 
Sorners' Islands, and also led directly to the first settlement and colonisa- 
tion from Virginia and England. Bermuda is now a British colony under 
a Governor, who is assisted by an Executive and a Legislative Council 
nominated by him, with an elected Legislative Assembly as a Lower House. 
Of the population little over one-third is white, the rest being negroes and 
coloured people as in the West Indies. The main occupation is market 
gardening, but the increasing use of Bermuda as a winter resort for wealthy 
Americans is also important. Steamers ply regularly to New York. A 
telegraph cable connects the islands with Nova Scotia, and may be pro- 
longed southward to the West Indies. Bermuda is an important British 
naval station for the North American squadron on account of its central 
position ; the approaches to the channels are accordingly fortified, and 
a garrison of about 1,500 British troops is permanently stationed in this 
Malta of the western North Atlantic. The chief town is Hamilton, situated 
on the main island. 

STATISTICS. 

1885. 1895. 

Area of Bermuda (square miles) 20 .. 20 

Population.. .. 15,036 .. 15.794 

Density of population per square mile . . 751 . . 789 

Population of Hamilton (the capital) 2,100 .. 1,296 

STANDARD BOOKS. 

S. E. Dawson. "Canada and Newfoundland." In Stanford's Compendium. London, 

1897. 
" British Association Handbook to Canada." Toronto, 1897. 
Sir J. G. Bourinot. "Canada under British Rule," 1760-1900. London, 1900. 
G. R. Parkin. "The Great Dominion." London, 1895. 
M. Harvey. " Newfoundland in 1897." London, 1897. 
A Heilprin. " Bermuda Islands." Philadelphia, 1889. 

The publications of the Canadian Geological Survey contain many valuable 
reports on exploration in all parts of the Dominion. 



CHAPTER XXXIX.— THE UNITED STATES OF 

AMERICA 

By William Morris Davis, 

Professor of Physical Geography in Han>ard University. 

I.— HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY 

Discovery and Settlement. — The New World is fortunate in lying 
with its lesser highlands towards the narrow Atlantic which separates it 
from western Europe, the home of active and inventive Caucasians, and 
in presenting its greater highlands to the broad Pacific, which separates it 
from eastern Asia, the home of the unprogressive Mongolians ; for to this 
accident of position — if such it be — the discovery and colonisation of the 
New World by the best race of the Old World may be ascribed. A 
century of discovery along the eastern coast led to a century of colonisa- 
tion, this to a century of rapid colonial growth, and this again to a 
century of independence and expansion for the middle colonies of the 
Atlantic border. At the close of these four centuries the United States 
has become one of the foremost nations of the world in extent, variety, and 
value of territory, and in number, intelligence, and wealth of population. 

The English colonies of the Atlantic coast between the St. Lawrence 
and Florida were established at first with relation to the harbours that gave 
protection to the vessels by which intercourse with the mother country 
was maintained. From the harbour settlements as centres, large areas of 
land were claimed under the authority of royal grants ; thus the coast was 
subdivided among a dozen colonies, some of which laid claim to an 
indefinite extent of inland country. Progress into the interior was in most 
cases opposed by the aboriginal Americans, of tribal organisation, to whom 
the name of " Indians" was given by the early discoverers as if to set a 
lasting mark on their faulty reckoning of longitude. Idealised in romance, 
too often abused in the rough realities of frontier life, the Indian was a 
rude savage. He probably lived as closely to his ideas of virtue and duty 
as the colonists did to theirs, and when fairly treated, as by the Quakers 
under Penn, he was peaceful ; but the ideas of natives and of new-comers 
were usually unlike, even irreconcilable. Each one often accused the 
other of injustice, and the intercourse between them was constantly 
interrupted by petty warfare, resulting in an aggressive advance of the 
whites into the lands of the Indians. The progress of the backwoodsman 
among the Alleghenies in the eighteenth century, of the frontiersman on 
the prairies, plains and mountains, and of the Indian agent, acting for the 

7TO 



The United States 



711 



government under profitable contracts in the nineteenth century, does not 
make a glorious history to review, so far as it deals with native tribes. 

Hardly less fortunate than the narrowness of the Atlantic is the north- 
ward trend of its coa'st lines, as a result of which the inland progress of the 
early English colonists, and of the later immigrants from many countries, 
carried them westward across North America within the limits of a single 
climatic belt, instead of northward across many. The belt thus naturally 
marked out includes the greatest area of the best land on the continent. The 
early boundaries of the belt lay near the St. Lawrence on the north, where 
the French had planted colonies, and near the Gulf of Mexico on the 
south, where Florida was colonised by the Spaniards. From these 
beginnings a great expansion was accomplished in the century of inde- 
pendence ; and the new territory, at first in charge of governors appointed 
at Washington, was gradually, part by part, brought into the fellowship 
of States, until at present only New Mexico, Arizona, a remnant of Indian 
Territory, and the re- 
mote Alaskan province 
are still outstanding. 

The Declaration of 
Independence on the 
4th of July, 1776, was 
the natural result of 
unjust legislation on 
the part of the British 
government imposing 
burdens upon the colo- 
nies without offering _ 

. ... , ^Sl30riginal States —Boundaries of Ditto —Modem State Boundaries. 

equivalent privileges to 
, .2, , ° ., . Fig. 350.— The expansion of the United States. 

them, and Great Britain , 

was compelled to recognise the independence of the colonies in 1783. 

Florida was bought from Spain in 1819, Louisiana (the western half of the 

Mississippi basin) was bought from France in 1803, Oregon was acquired 

by right of exploration, the south-west from Texas to Calif ornia was gained 

from Mexico between 1845 and 1853, after a manner which the Americans 

had aptly inherited from their ancestors in Europe, and Alaska was bought 

from Russia in 1867. Finally, Hawaii was annexed, the Philippine Islands 

and Porto Rico were ceded by Spain, and the protection of Tutuila in 

Samoa was assumed in 1899. 

The States and the United States.— Since the formation of the 

Union, and particularly since its cementation after the Civil War of 

1861-65, the geographer may turn his attention from the single States to 

the United States, and this is now done even in the descriptive pages of 

school geographies, the best of which divide the United States into 

physical districts, and refer to the separate States chiefly as a means of 

giving location to the physical features and their industrial consequences. 




712 The International Geography 

The individual State is still a unit for the politician and the lawyer, but 
it is a fraction for the geographer, and very often an improper fraction. 
The Ohio and Mississippi rivers are exceptional in serving as natural 
boundaries for many States ; but even the great Mississippi does not 
divide States at its head or at its mouth. The Appalachian mountain- 
system is most irregularly partitioned among the older States. The 
western States are generally bounded by lines dependent on the form and 
rotation of the globe, after a method that has become habitual when 
civilised man wishes to divide thinly settled and unsurveyed territory. 
The strong front range of the Rocky Mountains, rising abruptly from the 
plains, forms no State boundary, but is crossed by the borders of Montana, 
Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Commerce is free to cross State 
limits, while the principle of protection regulates the trade of other 
nations with the United States as a whole. Many manufacturing and 
mining companies are incorporated in one State where local laws give 
them some advantage, carry on their business in another State, and 
perhaps have their financial office in a third. Railroads truly must have 
charters from every State that they cross ; but this is merely a legal 
technicality, of no consequence to the passengers or the freight that are 
carried over the tracks. Several lines of transatlantic steamers, nominally 
bound for New York City, land their passengers in New Jersey ; and but 
for the accident of a State boundary that runs through New York 
harbour, Jersey City would have probably been included in the Greater 
New York, recently formed by consolidating* several cities with the 
metropolis. State capitals are often of less importance than the com- 
mercial cities, whose growth follows physical controls. Many business 
men in border cities reside in the adjoining State, and cross the boundary 
to and from their work every day : Philadelphia has suburbs across the 
Delaware in New Jersey ; St. Louis across the Mississippi in Illinois ; and 
Kansas City itself spreads across the line between Missouri and Kansas. 
Government:. — The republican form of government adopted by the 
United States is in many ways paralleled by the 
governments of the individual States. There is a 
national constitution, under which each State has 
its individual constitution. The Union, like the 
separate States, has the three usual divisions of 
governmental functions — legislative, executive, and 
judicial. The President of the whole country has 
Fl ?; % l siPj Fl ^ of the his Cabinet of the heads of departments ; the 

United States— the Stripes „ ,..,*•,,. 

representing the 13 original Governor of a State has similar councillors. A 

States and the Stars the Supreme Court sits at Washington, and district 
present number. , . . ' 

federal courts sit in different parts of the country 

to act upon questions in which the interests of citizens of more than one 

State are involved. Each State has a similar judiciary for the decision 

of local matters. The Congress of the United States consists of the Senate 




The United States 713 



and the House of Representatives ; the Legislatures of the States are 
similarly divided. The national Senate includes two members from each 
State — not a satisfactory method of representation to-day, since Nevada 
(whose population is decreasing), Rhode Island, and Delaware are placed 
on an equality with New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The represen- 
tatives are chosen on the basis of population. The laws passed by Congress 
are uniform for the whole country. Within limits thus defined, the several 
States frame laws for themselves, often of great diversity in different parts 
of the country. Many laws regarding slavery formerly obtained in the 
southern States ; liquor laws, restricting or prohibiting the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors, have been passed in several northern States. The right to 
vote has been extended to women in some of the western States, where 
conservative traditions have less hold than in the east. With the desire to 
increase their population, other States have been over-liberal regarding 
divorce laws ; and the desert State of Nevada has even gone to the offensive 
extreme of permitting prize fights, as if in the vain hope of staying its 
recent loss of numbers. 

People. — The remoteness of the United States from formidable neigh- 
bours has fortunately not required the withdrawal of many persons from 
industrial pursuits into the army and navy ; and as long as the territor) r 
under the national government remains compact it is probable that the 
burden of an elaborate, expensive, and unproductive military and naval 
establishment may be avoided. There is little need for forts and soldiers 
within the country itself. It is true that individual differences have been 
too often settled by violence rather than by appeal to the courts ; but 
when the rapidity of settlement and the heterogeneous nature of the 
population are considered, and when it is remembered that even during 
the century of independence a large part of the population has had 
personal experience of the rude conditions of frontier life, the prevalence 
of good order becomes the striking feature of the country. This must be 
ascribed chiefly to the plentiful and profitable occupation that the vast 
extent of new land gave to all comers during nearly all the century of 
independence ; for even with a decennial increase of from five to ten 
millions there has been land enough and to spare. Another beneficent 
effect of plentiful occupation has been the rapid assimilation of immigrants, 
whereby the foreigners from many lands have soon been Americanised. 
A failure of this process is seen to a greater or less degree in large cities, 
in certain mining regions, and in some parts of the north-west where the 
settlement of immigrants, derived largely from a single European country, 
causes the retention of at least a foreign language if not of other customs 
foreign to the United States. But in spite of these deficiencies, the leading 
fact remains that, as a whole, the great population has become naturalised 
to its new continental home with a success that recalls the spread of 
thistles in Argentina and rabbits in Australia ; and although uncompli- 
mentary, the comparison is based on sound biological principles. 



714 The International Geography 

Religious freedom and public education have contributed largely to 
the good results which plentiful and profitable occupation have chiefly 
controlled. There is no established church, and the several larger 
religious bodies are so strong that no one is likely to overpower the others. 
Illiteracy is rare, except among the negroes and poor whites of the south. 
Besides the public schools, for which provision is made with constantly 
increasing liberality, there are State colleges in most of the States, and 
there are only too many sectarian colleges, especially in the north and east 
of the plains, established as if for the religious safety of the young of the 
several denominations. Large gifts have been made to educational 
institutions by wealthy men ; and the strongest universities of the country, 
Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, 
Chicago, and Stanford, have thus been supported in great part. Public 
libraries are numerous ; they are frequently the gifts of successful men to 
the homes of their boyhood. The establishment of scientific Government 
Bureaus has greatly contributed to the development of the national 
resources. Notable among these is the Geological 
Survey, now engaged in mapping the entire national 
domain ; and the liberal" method of disposing of its 
publications at a nominal price, in order that they 
shall be widely used, deserves imitation elsewhere. 
The Weather Bureau of the United States is unique 
in the area covered, and in the promptness of pub- 
lication of its daily maps. 
l ulam^~of er a%ifre With the aid of education, and the incentive of 
mile of the United industrial opportunity, the people of the northern 
States have been remarkably fertile in mechanical 
inventions, to say nothing of the application of perverted ingenuity to the 
development of " rings " in politics and " corners " in the markets, and of 
monopolies and over-profitable trusts in corporations. 

Towards the close of the nineteenth century certain unfavourable 
reactions followed the rapid growth in population and wealth. Immi- 
grants of a less desirable class than the early comers have made 
their appearance in increasing numbers, chiefly from eastern and southern 
Europe. Many of them remain in crowded seaports instead of entering 
further into the country. Disputes between incorporated employers and 
the employed have become more and more serious in their nature. The 
multiplication of factories and the competition among manufacturers 
compels such economy in production as to reduce wages, and for this 
reason more than any other, new markets for- manufactured products are 
now eagerly looked for. If the twentieth century witnesses a territorial 
expansion beyond the present boundaries, the change will be made largely 
on commercial grounds ; for with nearly all the valuable public lands now 
disposed of to incorporated or to individual owners, and with a rapidly 
increasing excess of production over consumption, the demand for new 



The United States 715 

opportunities on the part of the " business men " may prove stronger than 
the resistance of those conservatives who feel that a republic of wide- 
spread territory is not compatible with the Declaration of Independence 
and the principles of the Constitution. That such a result should have 
already come within the range of possibility only emphasises the marvel- 
lous changes of the United States during the century of independence. 

Trade. — The foreign trade of the United States is mainly carried on 
by the seaports of New York (through which almost one-half of the trade 
of the country passes), Boston (which comes next with only one-tenth), 
New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. It is carried 
on mainly under foreign flags, only one-ninth of the value of the export 
and import trade being done in vessels belonging to the United States. 
On the other hand, no foreign vessels are allowed to engage in coasting trade 
from one port of the United States to another. The value of the exports 
considerably exceeds that of the imports. The former consist mainly of 
agricultural produce — wheat, animals, preserved meat, &c, from the 
prairie States, and raw cotton from the south Atlantic and the Gulf coastal 
plains ; these together make up two-thirds of the exports. Manufactures 
are exported nearly to the value of one-third, most of the products of 
mines and forests being required for home use. The imports are mainly of 
products which cannot be produced in the United States, or not in suffi- 
cient quantity for the demand, such as coffee, sugar (the largest import, 
amounting to one-seventh of the value of the whole), raw wool and silk, 
and certain manufactured goods. The import of such articles as can be 
manufactured in the United States is discouraged by the imposition of a 
heavy tariff, which raises the price to the consumer, and so benefits the 
manufacturing class with less advantage to the farmers. Nearly half of 
the exports go to the United Kingdom ; Germany comes next in import- 
ance as a customer, and Canada, France, and Holland follow. The United 
Kingdom sends one-fifth of the total imports, Germany and France come 
next with one-fifth between them. The imports are drawn from a wider 
field than that over which the exports are distributed ; thus, while at least 
76 per cent, of the exports are sent to Europe, only 55 per cent, of the 
imports are drawn from that continent. The recent development of the 
total trade is shown in Fig. 71. 

II.— REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY 

THE APPALACHIAN BELT 

The Appalachian Belt. — The chief geographical features of the 
eastern United States cannot be appreciated until it is understood that a 
great part of the region has been uplifted by tectonic forces, worn down 
to a nearly level surface by erosion, and after being again more or less 
uplifted is now once more in process of dissection. The Appalachian 



716 The International Geography 

Mountains were first formed by disturbances so long ago that once at 
least in later times the mountains have been worn down to an extensive 
lowland of moderate relief, close to the level of the sea ; and the mountains 
of to-day are either the occasional unconsumed remnants of the lost ranges, 
or the product of renewed uplift and dissection. Thus viewed, the Appa- 
lachian belt may be easily subdivided and described ; thus described, a 
close connection will be found between its geological history and its 
present form ; and again, between its present form and its control over 
human conditions. 

Divisions of the Appalachian Belt. — An eastern division of the 
Appalachian belt consists of ancient crystalline rocks, such as schists and 
gneisses, with many areas of granites and other igneous intrusions. A 
western division consists of a great series of Palaeozoic strata, chiefly 
derived from the waste of the older rocks on the east, and now greatly 
tilted and folded. Both of these divisions were well worn down to low- 
lands over the greater part of their area during Mesozoic time ; but the 
hardest parts of the crystalline division survived in residual mountains, for 
which the generic name monadnock is coming into use, after a fine residual 
mountain of this name in south-western New Hampshire. The White 
Mountains of New Hampshire and the Black Mountains and other ranges 
in North Carolina seem to be groups of such monadnocks. 

If viewed in Cretaceous times, the Appalachian region would have been 
seen as a broad, gently rolling lowland, here and there surmounted by 
monadnocks, singly or in groups. Since then the lowland has been raised 
into an upland, bearing the monadnocks on its back. The quiet streams 
of the lowland were thus revived into new vigour, and new valleys have 
consequently been incised beneath the upland surface. Unlike the earlier 
mountain-making disturbances, the later uplift was of a gentle nature, 
producing a broad swell, whose arch-line follows the Appalachian trend, 
and whose side slopes fall off slowly to the south-east and north-west. 
Much of the Appalachian system is therefore not mountainous to-day ; near 
the sea it may even include extensive areas of low land. The broadly 
uplifted portion has regained the appearance of mountains chiefly by the 
excavation of valleys along the belts of weak rocks, or along the paths of 
its larger streams. The mountains and ridges of to-day must therefore be 
regarded as forms of circumdenudation, like those of the Scottish High- 
lands, in contrast to mountains of direct uplift, such as occur in certain 
parts of the western United States. 

Following principles of wide application, it may be briefly stated that 
the valleys worn by the larger streams in the uplifted lowland are now 
deep where the lowland was raised highest, and shallow where the least 
uplift occurred. Again, the valleys are broad where the rocks are rela- 
tively weak ; here, indeed, lowlands of a later generation have been 
developed, above which the local belts of harder rocks stand as residual 
hills and ridges of the second order. Where the rocks are resistant the 



The United States 717 

valleys are still narrow, time enough not yet having elapsed since the 
uplift to permit the valleys to grow wide. The varied combinations of 
these controlling factors give rational explanations to a great variety of 
geographical forms. 

The Older Appalachian Belt. — The eastern or crystalline division 
of the Appalachians — the Older Appalachian Belt, as it may be called 
(OA in Fig. 353) — consists so largely of resistant rocks that its uplands 
preserve the altitude given to them by uplift over large areas, and the 
valleys worn out by the streams are relatively narrow. The western or 
stratified division — the Newer Appalachian Belt (N A in Fig. 353) — includes 
a much larger proportion of easily weathered rocks ; hence its valleys 
are well worn down, and its narrow ridges occur only where the harder 
strata are found. The even crest lines of the ridges, a striking feature of 
the Newer Appalachians in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee, are 
analogous to the even uplands of the Older Appalachians. The breadth 
of the older and newer belts is very variable. The older belt is narrow 
and low between New York and Washington, and broad and high in 
New England and North Carolina. The newer belt is represented chiefly 
by a broad valley north of Albany ; it is still broader, with many ridges 
and valleys in Pennsylvania and Virginia. 

After thus recognising the division of the Appalachians into two chief 
longitudinal belts, there are certain contrasts between the northern and 
southern part of the system that deserve attention. North of New York 
City, a comparatively recent depression of the Appalachian region, in- 
creasing towards Newfoundland, has drowned the borders of this geo- 
graphical province beneath the waters of the Atlantic, bringing the sea 
against the resistant rocks of the once deep-seated mountain structures. 
South of New York, an elevation of the region, increasing towards Ala- 
bama, has revealed the unconsolidated deposits of a former sea bottom in 
the coastal plain of the southern States. Few simpler examples of the 
manner in which crustal movements determine geographical forms can be 
found than this, and few in which the arrangement of geographical forms 
has a more direct influence on the conditions of human life. 

The Atlantic Shore Line. — The shore line of the northern Appa- 
lachians is extremely irregular ; many long arms of the sea enter between 
low rocky headlands and outlying islands ; comparatively deep water is 
carried into the re-entrants of the coast, making numerous and excellent 
harbours ; but the rugged hill country follows almost immediately inland, 
discouraging agriculture. Mount Washington, the highest of the White 
Mountains, and many other monadnocks are in sight from the sea. 

The shore line of the southern coastal plain is usually fringed with sand 
reefs, broken by tidal inlets and enclosing shallow lagoons. The sea is 
shallow, deepening very gradually towards the outer edge of the con- 
tinental shelf, where the rapid descent to the true ocean basin begins, a 
hundred miles or more from shore. The land is very flat, ascending slowly 
5 



718 The International Geography 

inland ; no hills surmount its surface. It is traversed by rivers whose 
courses have been extended forward from the former shore line at the 
inner border of the coastal plain, but the river valleys are eroded only to 
a very moderate depth ; not until the inner border of the plain is ap- 
proached is the surface so well dissected as to be called hilly. Agriculture 
is promoted on the more fertile parts of the plain, and upon the deep soils 
of the smooth uplands of the Older Appalachian Belt, next inland. When 
it is remembered that the rugged surface of New England was settled by 
religious refugees, whose convictions were as rugged as the country they 
peopled, and that the southern States were settled by colonists whose 
motives were generally commercial rather than religious, a long sequence 
of historical consequences may be traced from the association of unlike 
people on unlike lands. 

The movements of the land whereby the configuration of the shore line 
has been effected must be pursued one step further. A slight depression 
has followed the elevation of the coastal plain from New Jersey to North 
Carolina ; thus the broadened valley floors of the chief rivers have been 
submerged, forming bays and estuaries, from that of the Delaware to that 
of Pamlico Sound. On the other hand, a recent movement of elevation has 
partly counteracted the previous movement of depression in New England, 
for the littoral districts of Maine and New Hampshire contain smooth plains 
of marine clays that interlock with the rocky arms of the land. 

The order of settlement, the arrangement of State boundaries and the 
occupation of inhabitants in this region had been profoundly affected by 
the physical features, thus briefly sketched. The early colonists in tide- 
water Virginia found protected harbourage in the many branching bays of 
the Chesapeake and lower Potomac ; for many years communication 
between them was more easily carried on by water than overland through 
the forests. Although the drowning of these former valley lowlands has 
been a loss to agriculture, there is some compensation for the loss in the 
valuable fishing grounds which they afford. Their importance in deter- 
mining political units is manifest. The largest bays ©f the coastal plain 
divided the colonies of Virginia and Maryland. Another bay led to the 
establishment of Pennsylvania and Delaware, leaving New Jersey on its 
eastern side. The south-pointing peninsular areas defined by the bays 
determined the small area of the three colonies that occupied them, in 
contrast to Virginia and Pennsylvania, which at the time of the Revolution, 
claimed all the land westward to the Pacific. 

The Atlantic Coastal Plain. — Various features of the coastal plain, 
constantly reflected in the distribution and occupation of the people, may 
well serve as types for this class of land forms. The outer border of the 
plain, fronted by shallow water and fringed with sand reefs from New 
Jersey to North Carolina, attracts no commercial settlements, but is in- 
creasingly frequented as a holiday resort : Atlantic City on an off-shore reef 
in southern New Jersey is the largest town of this kind (Fig. 354). Along 



The United States 



719 




720 The International Geography 



the North Carolina shores, the sand reefs, locally known as " banks," have 
a peculiar concave outline to the sea, meeting in sharp points or cusps> 
forming Capes Hatteras, Fear, and Look-out. These are believed to 
be due to the interaction of several large back-set eddies of the long- 
shore waters, which seem to turn in local circuits between the Gulf Stream 
and the continent. The cusps are the most perfect examples of such shore 
forms anywhere known. The " banks " are occupied by small communities 
of isolated people, known as " bankers." A small breed of horses, known 
as "banker ponies," here run wild, subsisting on the coarse grass that 
grows on the sandy soil ; in the absence of brooks, the ponies find fresh 
water by pawing away the sand in the depressions between the dunes. 

The islands along the coast of South Carolina are peculiar in being 
interrupted by numerous tidal inlets, a direct result of the increased strength 
of the tides in the "Carolina bight" of the Atlantic coast. Here the off- 
shore islands are not entirely composed of sand reefs, but in part resemble 
detached portions of the mainland ; their soil is rich and produces the 

famous "Sea Island cotton"; they 
are exposed to dangerous sea- 
floods, when on-shore hurricane 
winds conspire with a rising tide. 
The tidal waters behind the islands 
are much reduced in area by the 
growth of extended marshes, 
whose inner stretches produce 
abundant rice crops. 

The important commercial cities 
of the coastal plain are generally 
situated on embayed valleys and 
estuarine rivers; some are near 
the coast line, like Norfolk, Va., Wilmington, N-C, Charleston, S.C., 
and Savannah, Ga. ; others are at the inner border of "the plain like 
Trenton, N.J., Philadelphia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., and 
Richmond, Va., these cities being at or near the head of tide water. 
Others, like Raleigh, N.C., and Columbia, S.C., are at the "falls" of 
their respective rivers, above the reach of tide, but at the head of 
river navigation ; the " falls " being formed where the streams, coming 
forward from the interior, pass from the resistant rocks of the older 
land to the unconsolidated strata of the coastal plain. If an observant 
traveller should traverse the coastal plain along any of the transverse 
inter-stream strips or " doabs," into which it is divided by the chief 
rivers, he would find that its soil, the surface expression of its loose tex- 
tured strata, is arranged in belts that trend nearly parallel to the Atlantic 
shore line ; cleared and farmed where marly or limey, barren and left to 
pine forests where sandy ; the forest, however, yielding large quantities of 
lumber and resinous products in the southern States. Southern Virginia 




FlG. 354. — Part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 



The United States 721 

and North Carolina include extensive fruit and vegetable farms on the 
smoother parts of 'the coastal plain, from which the markets of the northern 
cities are now largely supplied. Part of the plain near the shore is so low 
and flat that the growth of vegetation builds up its surface, forming exten- 
sive swamps, of which Dismal Swamp, on the borders of Virginia and 
North Carolina is the largest example. Unlike many other swamps, these 
occupy the highest ground in their district, and streams run out of them. 
not into them ; where drained and cleared they have been transformed into 
good farming land. 

On passing inland, an increasing diversity of relief is found ; the low 
flat plain near the shore is gradually replaced by a surface in which the 
valley slopes of the intrenched streams have the appearance of hills ; but 
if our language would permit it, this district should be called a valley rather 
than a hilly country. The more resistant layers of the plain, generally half 
cemented sand-stones, sometimes come to surmount the less resistant and 
more denuded layers further inland, giving a belt-like arrangement in form 
as well as in soils. Thus a low upland encloses an inner lowland from Newark 
to Camden, N.J., important as a natural pathway between the chief Atlantic 
cities and characterised by many pits and potteries on its clayey substratum. 
Artesian water supply is a marked feature of the outer part of the 
coastal plain, where its importance increases with the growth of the popu- 
lation, and with the better understanding of the menace to public health 
in shallow surface wells and polluted streams. The larger shore resorts 
on the sand reefs are supplied in this way as well as the mainland. 
Certain towns in peninsular Maryland sink their artesian wells into water- 
bearing strata or "aquifers," that reach the surface and gather their rainfall 
west of Chesapeake Bay. 

People of the Coastal Plain. — As the southern colonies grew 
on the coastal plain and the people pressed inland, they found an 
open country, easily occupied as far as the residual mountains of 
the Blue Ridge and its fellows in Virginia and North Carolina ; but 
these and the Allegheny Plateau were long-enduring obstacles to 
the settlement of the further interior. In North Carolina particularly, 
where the old Appalachians are broadest and most mountainous, 
movement from east to west was almost forbidden ; and to this day an 
unusually large share of the descendants of the early colonists remain on 
the coastal plain, on the piedmont slopes, or among the valleys of the inner 
mountains, with comparatively little gain by immigration from Europe. 
Nowhere else in the United States is so large a part of the population 
" native born " and " born of native born." Local habits of speech and home- 
spun clothing are no rarities in villages among the mountains, which form 
a fitting geographical environment for conservative ways of life. 

New England. — On the New England coast, examples of geographical 
controls are no less distinct than further south. Here the distinction 
between upland and lowland depends chiefly on the distribution of strong 



722 The International Geography 



and weak rock structures in the Older Appalachian Belt. The strong struc- 
tures still preserve something of the upland surface gained by the uplift of 
the worn-down old Appalachians ; they are low only near the coast, where 
they were little uplifted. The weak structures are already worn down to 
lowlands again. In the present depressed attitude of the region, the 
stronger structures stand forward in headlands on the coast line, like that of 
Cape Ann, Mass. Gloucester, on a good harbour on this headland, sends out 
a large fleet of fishing vessels to the Newfoundland Banks : the headland 
granites are quarried at Rockport, and sent away in heavy-laden schooners to 
more southern ports. The valleys and lowlands are more or less drowned, 
forming embayments like Boston Harbour ; and Boston has outstripped 
the neighbouring settlements of Plymouth and Salem, its rivals in early 

times, in great part because 
it stands further inland, 
and therefore in better con- 
nection with the interior 
population of later growth. 
In New England many of 
the towns borrowed names 
from the mother country ; 
but the chief colony took 
the name of a monadnock 
a few miles south of Boston, 
and now reserved as a 
metropolitan park, and 
known to the Indians in 
colonial days as " Massa- 
chusetts" or Great Hills, 
the first land to rise over 
the v sea horizon on ap- 
proaching Boston from the 
east. 

The rugged uplands, gradually gaining height inland, were slowly settled, 
and still offer only hard conditions to their occupants, however well the 
villages and cities in the valleys may thrive. After a trial of the higher 
uplands as dwelling places in the eighteenth century, many families moved 
out west to the prairies in the nineteenth century ; towards the close of the 
latter period, the " hill towns " of western Massachusetts exhibit a very 
general decrease of population. Here the Old Appalachian Belt is so broad 
that no river crosses it. Its gain of height (apart from the scattered or 
grouped monadnocks that rise above it) is so well maintained northward 
and westward, until reaching a sudden descent from its culmination into 
the Appalachian valley, that the crest line naturally suggested colonial and 
international boundaries ; thus New York, led inland northward by the 
Hudson valley, acquired the land west of the Taconic and Green Mountains ; 




Fig. 355. — /he Site of Boston, Mass. 



The United States 723 



and Canada on the north would have been limited by the divide between 
the Atlantic waters- of Maine and the branches of the St. Lawrence, had not 
such a boundary lain further north than was expected. Here in the north, 
the barrier of the Older Appalachian Belt, broad and rugged like that which 
separated the Carolina colonies from the interior wilderness, divided New 
England and its Puritan stock from Canada and its French population. 

It was to a lowland, etched out beneath the general level of the upland 
and then partially submerged in Narragansett Bay that Roger Williams and 
his independent followers removed from the Massachusetts Colony ; thus 
the city of Providence and the little Colony of Rhode Island were founded. 
Newport, on an island at the entrance to Narragansett Bay, has become a 
popular seaside resort on account of its agreeable climate. Parties of 
settlers around Boston finding themselves crowded, and like an over- 
stocked hive of bees, as a contemporary writer said, ready to swarm, 
crossed the hilly uplands in 1637, and entered the Connecticut valley low- 
land, a broad depression worn down on a belt of comparatively weak 
Triassic sandstones. Some of the towns thus founded remained members 
of their parent colony ; others asked for a new charter, and thus the small 
colony of Connecticut was formed ; it is crowded, like Rhode Island, 
between its larger neighbours. Its chief cities, Hartford and New Haven, 
lie in the lowland that attracted its early settlers. 

Further north the uplands are so extensive, the monadnocks are so 
numerous, and the valleys are often so deep-cut, that the population has 
grown slowly. Northern Maine is still a forested wilderness ; outlying 
settlements there are to this day called " plantations," in the sense of the 
word used by the early colonists, and not with the acquired meaning of 
" an extensive farm," usual in the southern States. Remnants of Indian 
tribes still remain here. Only the southern part of Maine is well peopled ; 
Portland having a fine harbour on the coast; Augusta, the capital, and 
Bangor, a great lumber market, being situated at the head of tide on 
the estuarine waters of the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers. The coastal 
border is here almost- too much dissected by the drowning of its valleys 
and lowlands ; for its village communities are thus isolated to disadvantage 
on islands and long slender land-arms ; local travel in small boats is not 
always easy on account of the tides, whose strong rise and fall often make 
landing troublesome, and whose rapid currents frequently overcome oars 
and sails. In the last thirty years a large "summer population" has 
resorted to these islands, where the cool water gives the air a mild tem- 
perature. Mount Desert, already mentioned, containing a number of sum- 
mits over a thousand feet in height, the boldest land on the eastern coast 
of the United States, is the most famous of these summer settlements. 

New Hampshire has the advantage of a good harbour at Portsmouth, 
and of a fine river in the Merrimack ; but its uplands are thinly peopled, 
and its mountains are visited only by lumbermen and vacation tourists. 
Deforestation is already giving cause for alarm here and in Maine, especially 



724 The International Geography 

since even the smaller trees are taken to feed the pulp mills, called into 
being by the many pages of the modern newspaper. The State of Ver- 
mont has no seaport and an over-large share of rugged highland. Its 
industries are rural rather than manufacturing or commercial ; its popula- 
tion is increasing slowly. 

In all the New England States building stone is an important product. 
Granite and similar crystalline rocks are quarried extensively, manv 
quarries having the advantage of a situation on or near a navigable tide 
water. Marble and slate are found in the Green Mountain valleys. Sand- 
stone is taken in large quantities from the Connecticut valley for use in 
ornamental architecture. 

Glacial Action in New England. — The imprint of glacial action 
is strong in New England. The deep soils of the southern States, 
gradually passing into firm rock at depths of from thirty to fifty feet, are 
here replaced by an immediate change from the surface drift, of very 
variable thickness, to the glaciated surface of firm, unweathered rock. 
Many ledges on the upland hills have been left almost bare of soil ; a thin 
deposit of drift in the crevices, slightly increased by post-glacial weathering, 
suffices only to support tree growth. Elsewhere the uplands are blanketed 
over with unstratified drift or till, a compact deposit of rock scrapings 
from further north accumulated under the slowly moving ice sheet where 
more waste was brought than could be carried further forward. The till 
frequently assumes the form of rounded, oval hills, known as drumlins, 
half a mile or more long, and from 100 to 300 feet high. These are 
sometimes so plentifully covered with boulders that they hardly serve even 
for pastures ; but more generally they are cleared and farmed. In certain 
districts drumlins are so plentiful as to give their pleasing expression to the 
landscape : southern New Hampshire, and eastern and central Massachu- 
setts contain them in great numbers ; the islands of Boston Harbour (Fig. 
355) are nearly all drumlins, cliffed by the waves and furnishing drift 
for the construction of extensive beaches. 

In the valleys and on the lower ground near the coast, various forms of 
washed drift generally bury the ledges out of sight. Extensive terraces 
occupy the larger valleys ; their higher levels are rather too sandy for the 
best farming land ; their lower levels, flooded by the rivers, offer attractive 
meadows of which none is more beautiful than that of Deerfield, on a 
branch of the mid-Connecticut, the scene of early settlement and of 
disastrous struggles with the Indians. It is chiefly in connection with the 
irregular distribution of the valley drift that the numerous small lakes of 
New England are to be explained. Their basins were first accounted for 
by glacial erosion, but at present it is more generally believed that they 
mark the sites of lingering remnants of the melting ice sheet, while the 
evacuated space about them was filled with sands and gravels. The lakes 
form natural reservoirs for the water supply of the villages and cities ; 
the water being pure except in autumn, when, the temperature being 



The United States 725 

uniform from surface to bottom, overturnings are easily caused by the 
winds, and the impurities gathered in the deep water during the summer are 
discharged. Ice from the lakes is an important winter harvest ; and at 
one time Wenham ice, from a small lake near Salem, was famous even 
in India. 

Water Power in New England. — The rivers, entrenching then- 
courses in drift-clogged valleys have repeatedly lost their former channels 
and cut down upon rocky ledges ; thus dividing their courses into smooth- 
flowing reaches and hurried rapids and falls. The latter supply the great 
water power of New England, on which its vast manufacturing industries 
began. Fall River, on an eastern branch of Narragansett Bay, was at first 
satisfied with the power derived from a small stream ; now its myriad 
spindles are driven by steam. The mills here and in New Bedford, a 
little further east, profit from the high humidity of the atmosphere near the 
sea, an important factor in spinning cotton. The sites of Lowell, Lawrence 
and Manchester were occupied by farms seventy years ago. Enterprising 
capitalists and engineers took control of the great water powers of the 
Merrimack, and to-day the river, supplemented by steam in dry seasons, 
drives more cotton mill spindles than any other river in the world. 
Thousands of French Canadians now make their homes in these factory 
cities, working as operatives in the mills. 

In Maine the falls of the Saco gives rise to the paired cities of Saco and 
Biddeford ; those of the Androscoggin determine the sites of Lewiston and 
Auburn. It is noticeable that these manufacturing towns in Maine are near 
its south-western corner ; numerous water-powers in other parts of the 
State are too remote from the chief markets of the United States to be 
utilised to their full value at present. In Connecticut, on the other hand, 
near the great commercial centre of New York City, hardly a single 
waterfall is idle. Here a certain feature of water-powers of indirect 
glacial origin deserves notice. In the normal river, the trunk stream has, 
as a rule, graded its course so as to secure a steady flow ; it may even be 
navigable. Rapids and falls are found only on the upper waters, where the 
smaller branches, working in districts of greater altitude and frequently on 
rocks of greater resistance, have not yet been able to wear down their 
channels to an even slope. Although falls are here abundant, the volume 
of water is deficient, and the prevailing ruggedness of the head-water hills 
is disadvantageous to large settlements. But the falls on rivers of drift- 
terraced valleys are placed at haphazard, as well on the lower trunk stream 
as near the head, and the glacial period is so recent that even the trunk 
rivers have not yet extinguished their falls. Manufacturing cities situated 
at falls near the river mouths have the great advantage of large water 
volume and of neighbourhood to the sea in a low and comparatively open 
country ; repeated illustrations of the benefits of these favouring circum- 
stances might be named. The lakes are also of practical value as natural 
reservoirs by which the volume of the lower stream is rendered relatively 



726 The International Geography 

constant. Many lakes are dammed at their outlets, and in a dry season the 
volume of the failing river is maintained by opening the flood gates. In 
the absence of important agricultural resources, New England has turned 
so largely to manufacturing that even its abundant water powers do not 
suffice for its needs. With little or no water power, Worcester and Provi- 
dence produce machines and tools. Lynn and Brockton are " shoe -towns." 
Waterbury makes brass ware and clocks, and Banbury makes hats. The 
goods from these active centres find a market, though with increasing 
competition, in all parts of the country. 

Cape Cod and the Outlying Islands. — The most extensive moraines 
of the New England region are those that mark some of the furthest 
advances of the ice sheet on the southern coast and on the outlying islands 
of Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. A foundation of Creta- 
ceous and Tertiary strata, similar to those of the coastal plain of New 
Jersey and beyond, but much deformed and denuded before the last ice 
advance, constitutes the preglacial structures from Long Island to Cape 
Cod. Belts of morainic hills with numerous boulders increase the relief by 
a hundred feet or more, giving a pleasing undulation to the surface. Broad 
plains of washed gravels extend southward from the moraines to the sea, 
now more or less cut back in the cliffs, as on the east side or '•'back" of 
Cape Cod ; or fronted with long sand reefs, as along the southern border 
of Long Island (Fig. 356). In the eighteenth century, when the traveller 
from Boston to New York went more comfortably by sailing packet 
than by land, even the outermost island of Nantucket was not the 
out-of-the-way place that it is to-day ; and for some time after overland 
travel was established a thrifty Quaker stock and an active whaling 
industry made the island prosperous ; but when whales became scarce 
and when rock-oil replaced whale-oil, the trade and population of 
Nantucket dwindled, its wharves decayed, some of its houses were carried 
away to the mainland, and it was almost in danger of being deserted, until 
in recent years when its value as a quiet summer resort was recognised. 
Provincetown, a land's end village on Cape Cod, is peculiar in containing 
a colony of Portuguese, the families of fishermen and sailors. Here on a 
great wave-built spit, covered with sand dunes, the Pilgrims first landed ; 
but seeing the morainic hills of Manomet across Cape Cod Bay, they sailed 
on and founded Plymouth, where the famous rock on its shore is only a 
glacier boulder of modest size, too small to be chipped off for keepsakes 
by the many descendants of the Pilgrims. 

Gateways to the Interior. — The narrowing of the Older Appalachian 
belt between New York City and Washington, due to ancient subsidence 
of a part of the ranges, has been of great importance in determining points 
of entrance of immigration towards the vast Mississippi basin ; for nearly 
all the many thousand emigrants from Europe have reached the interior 
by gateways through this least formidable part of the mountains. There 
can be little doubt that the important commercial cities of New York, 



The United States 727 

Philadelphia, and Baltimore owe their growth to the easier access thus 
allowed to the interior of the country behind them. Ports like Providence, 
Boston, Salem and Portland, further north, and ports like Norfolk, 
Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah, further south, chiefly serve local 
needs ; they cannot compete in international traffic with the three inter- 
mediate cities, of which Boston and Norfolk are the only important rivals. 
The pre-eminence of New York among the middle ports is dependent 
partly on its good harbour, partly on being nearer Europe than the ports 
further south, and much more on the navigable waters of the Hudson that 
reach inland almost across the Appalachian Belt. 

The Newer Appalachian Belt. — The last point may be better 
appreciated after a fuller account of the Newer Appalachian Belt (NA 
in Fig. 353), whose inter-ridge lowlands are worn down on the weaker 
Palaeozoic strata. They extend from the Gulf of St. Lawrence (beyond the 
territory of the United States) along a curved path past New York to Alabama, 
and there disappear under the overlapping strata of the Gulf coastal 
plain. In the north the newer belt is limited on the inland side by the 
Laurentian plateau of Canada, and by an outlying area of similar structure 
and more rugged form, known as the Adirondack Mountains, in northern 
New York. From Albany to Alabama, the inland boundary of the ridge-and- 
valley belt is formed by the escarpment of the Allegheny plateau. In New 
York the ridges are few and the lowland is broad and open, but from New 
Jersey to Alabama, long, narrow, even-crested mountains of curious zigzag 
pattern, 1,000 to 3,000 feet high, formed on the outcropping edges of 
resistant sandstone layers, are very numerous. They divide the lowlands 
into many compartments, with difficulty connected by roads over the 
mountains, but open to one another where rivers have cut transverse 
notches or water gaps. The ridges are highest in Virginia, where some of 
the crests rise to 4,000 feet ; and here most of the valleys between them 
are so narrow and deep as to be of small value for settlement. Much of 
the better timber has been cut from the ridges, but they are still left to 
forest growth, for their slopes are cloaked with coarse, slow-creeping 
blocks of sandstone, the waste of the ridge-making strata. 

The valley floors between the ridges are sometimes underlain by lime- 
stone, especially along the eastern border of the Newer Appalachian Belt ; 
here the rich soils are occupied by some of the best farms in the country, 
albeit they have not the unlimited expanse of those on the western prairie. 
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania is in the midst of these thrifty 
surroundings. Beds of anthracite coal and plentiful deposits of iron ores 
among the ridges of Pennsylvania have contributed greatly to the wealth 
the Keystone State — so called from being the middle one of the thirteen 
colonies in the time of the Revolution. Mining industries have here 
attracted colonies of European labourers, where foreign languages are 
often more prevalent than English. The iron ores of the southern part of 
the belt, near the coal-fields of the plateau on the west, have been an 



728 The International Geography 

important factor in the development of the " New South " since the Civil 
War ; the centre of the iron industry in Alabama having ambitiously taken 
the name of Birmingham. 

The continuity of lowland along the eastern side of the Newer Appa- 
lachian Belt has given this part of its floor the general name of the Great 
Appalachian Valley ; it is locally known as the Hudson Valley in New York, 
the Kittatinny Valley in New Jersey, the Cumberland Valley in southern 
Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and the Valley of East Ten- 
nessee. The Great Valley is peculiar in being drained by a number of inde- 
pendent rivers that find exit through the deep gorges cut in the uplands on 
the east or west. Exceptions to this rule are seen in the longitudinal escape 
of the St. Lawrence with its branch from Lake Champlain in the north- 
east, and of the Coosa in the south-west ; both of these rivers run out 
lengthwise at the extremities of the valley. The Hudson, Delaware, 
Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Potomac and James all rise in the valley, or on 
the plateau to the west of it, and reach the Atlantic through steep-sided, 
narrow gorges in the uplands of the Older Appalachian Belt. The New- 
Kanawha and the Tennessee rise in the Older Appalachians of North 
Carolina, and escape westward through deep gorges in the Allegheny 
plateau to the Mississippi system and the Gulf. It is interesting to note 
that the six Atlantic rivers all cross the Old Appalachian Belt in or near its 
low and narrow middle part ; their valleys serving as so many entrances to 
the interior, and thus emphasising the contrast already noted between the 
lower middle and the higher terminal districts of the Atlantic highlands. 

Transverse Valleys in the Old Appalachian Belt. — The physical 
relation between the lengthwise lowlands of the Great Valley and the 
transverse gorges by which its rivers escape has been generally misunder- 
stood. The broad lowland and the narrow gorges are the work of erosion 
in the same period of Tertiary time. The rivers had much the same pattern 
as to-day when all this region had about the altitude of its uplands and ridge 
crest. Since then the excavation of the broad inner valley and the incision 
of the narrow gorges have gone on together : indeed, the incision of the 
gorges on the transverse course of the several rivers in the harder rocks 
of the Older Appalachian Belt was the essential antecedent to the deepening 
of their channels in the weaker rocks of the newer belt ; but while the 
gorges have widened very slowly in the harder rocks, the weaker strata of 
the inner belt have, as it were, melted away under the weather, and the inner 
valley has become as broad as the belt of weak strata that guide it. Since 
the general form thus described was developed, a moderate uplift of the 
region has again set the rivers at work, and they have cut narrow trenches 
in the valley floors. 

The Hudson and St. Lawrence are unlike all the other rivers of the 
Great Valley in having their valleys partly flooded by sea water, in con- 
sequence of the moderate depression of the northern lands already men- 
tioned in describing the bays of the New England coast. The lower St. 



The United States 



729 



Lawrence is thus broadly expanded into a funnel-shaped bay, misnamed a 
gulf ; but the drowned Hudson is closely hemmed in by the steep walls of 
the highlands. It thus retains the appearance of a river, although its 
volume is by no means an appropriate measure of the rainfall on its basin. 
It is a deep navigable waterway, open to large vessels to the head of tide 
at Albany and Troy, 150 miles from New York. It is the only deep-water 
passage through the Atlantic highlands ; and on this fact chiefly depends 
the metropolitan rank of New York City among the Atlantic seaports. The 
northward extension of New York Colony and State, from its first settle- 





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Fig. 356.— r/ze S/'fe 0/ iVew 7orife City. 



ment at the mouth of the Hudson, repeats the northward extension of Virginia 
and Pennsylvania from the colonies on their lower bays. Just as the latter 
colonies claimed possession of long belts of territory westward to the 
Pacific, and thus confined Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey to small 
areas, so the former claimed control of all the land west of the northern 
Older Appalachians, and thus determined the small dimensions of the New 
England States. Had the Potomac been drowned, not only in its course 
across the coastal plain as far inland as Washington, but through its gorge 
in the Blue Ridge to Harper's Ferry, Norfolk might have tried to rival 
New York City ; yet, even then, the upper Potomac would have had no 



730 The International Geography 



branch valley comparable to that of the Mohawk, by which, as will be 
shown further on, New York City has so greatly benefited. 

New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. — The relation of 
New York City to the interior of the United States has determined its relation 
to Europe. Commercialism is here supreme. The banker, the broker, the 
importer, and the railway director are the leaders of business activity. 
Standing as the chief port of entry for commerce and immigration, the 
city has gathered colonies of all the peoples of Europe. Germans, French, 
Italians, and many other nationalities here group themselves together, pre- 
serving their foreign ways even to the second generation ; much concern 
is felt by the sociologist over so congested a population. The government 
of the city is one of the most difficult of political problems, and it has by 
no means been made easier by the recent consolidation of Brooklyn and 
other independent municipalities in " Greater New York." The profes- 
sional politician and the " boss " accomplish their selfish .ends by most 
elaborate and successful management of the people. The narrow island 
between North (Hudson) and East rivers has become inconveniently 
crowded ; elevated railroads, running to the northern suburbs, make the 
streets resound with their many trains, although the New Yorkers seem to 
accept the noise as a proper part of the bustle of their great city. A huge 
suspension bridge connecting New York and Brooklyn very imperfectly 
accommodates the crowds that throng it morning and evening. 

Philadelphia has been favoured in another manner. It began with the 

thrift of the Quaker 
followers of William 
Penn ; it has profited 
from the presence of 
many industrious Ger- 
man immigrants on the 
rich farming lands of 
the Great Valley, near 
at hand ; it has had a 
commercial advantage 
in being the southern- 
most Atlantic port in 
the non- slaveholding 
States. Furthermore it 
has had great physical 
advantage from abun- 
dant open ground on 
which to expand, so 
that the proportion of houses to families is very large ; from the 
water power of the Schuylkill, whereby it has come to be a great 
manufacturing city ; and from the small altitude and width of the Older 
Appalachian Belt in the background, so that the communication with 




Fig. 357. — The Site of Philadelphia. 



The United States 



73 1 



the interior of Pennsylvania has been comparatively easy. The uplands 
are narrow here because of the strong overlap of the coastal plain. 
They are low, because they have been but little uplifted since they were 
worn down in Cretaceous times ; but more than this, they happen here to 
include a tract of weak Triassic sandstones and shales (like those of the 
Connecticut valley and the Bay of Fundy), which occupies a large part of 
their small breadth, and indeed obliquely traverses them from east to west. 
The sandstones and shales are now worn down to a lowland, like the Great 
Valley next adjoining on the west. Nowhere else are the Older Appalachians 
so inconspicuous as here. Indeed, if traced by the empirical guide of 
height instead of by their geological composition and their physical cha- 
racteristics, they might be overlooked, as has often happened in geo- 
graphical descriptions. Extensive railroad systems connect Philadelphia 
with the coal-fields of Pennsylvania, and with the Ohio Valley ; but so 
great is the importance of New York, that all these roads now continue 
their trains past Philadelphia to the metropolitan city (see Fig. 336). 

Baltimore is practically the civic representative of Maryland. In con- 
trast to Philadelphia, it is the northernmost commercial city of the south. 
It is physically the result of the far inland reach of Chesapeake Bay, and of 
the access to the further interior afforded by the valleys of the Potomac 
and Susquehanna rivers. The bay brings in ocean-going vessels and 
develops international trade, as well as supporting an active fishing 
industry ; oysters being included under fisheries on commercial rather 
than zoological grounds. The Potomac valley leads a great railroad from 
the harbour city towards the Ohio region ; but the difficulties encountered 
in crossing the Allegheny Plateau and the comparatively small population 
on the way, have made 
this line less successful 
financially than the chief 
railroads further north. 
Educationally, Baltimore 
has in Johns Hopkins, the 
southernmost university 
of wide resort, as Boston 
has (in its suburb of 
Cambridge) Harvard, the 
northernmost great uni- 
versity ; the latter is an 
outgrowth of an early 
colonial beginning ini636. 

It is noteworthv that ^ IG ' 3^' — Washington and the Distiict of Columbia 
the three great commercial cities just described are not the capitals of their 
States. The State governments have their seats in Albany on the Hudson, 
Harrisburg on the Susquehanna, and Annapolis on Chesapeake Bay. 
Washington, whose situation on the lower drowned Potomac corresponds 




JZujKah Mies 



73-2 The International Geography 

to that of Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay, is purely a governmental city. 
The great water power of the Potomac, where it runs from the Old 
Appalachian Belt to the Coastal Plain, is not yet utilised for manufactures. 

THE ALLEGHENY PLATEAU 

The Allegheny Plateau (A P in Fig. 353) is the westernmost division 
of the Atlantic highlands. It retains much of the forest which originally 
covered nearly all the region east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio. 
Its altitude ranges from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. It extends as far south-west as 
the mountain belt, and like it disappears under the coastal plain of- the 
Gulf. It is terminated on the east by a strong escarpment, known as 
Allegheny or Cumberland Mountain in different parts of its front ; but on 
the west or north-west it as a rule decreases in height gradually, and thus 
merges into the prairie region of the Ohio basin. On the north-east, the 
plateau is known as the Catskill Mountains, overlooking the Hudson and 
Mohawk valleys. Throughout this extensive region, the same great series 
of Palaeozoic strata that is broken, tilted, and folded in the mountains of 
the Newer Appalachian Belt, lies nearly horizontal. Productive coal-beds 
underlie most of the surface. The well defined north-east and south-west 
trends that prevail in the uplands, ridges and valleys of the Appalachians, 
are here exchanged for a systemless maze of digitate spurs dissected by 
repeatedly branching valleys. The greater part of the region is drained by 
branches of the Ohio, of which the most interesting is the Kanawha, whose 
canyon, 1,000 to 1,500 feet deep, is the strongest river valley in the eastern 
part of the country. The Kanawha is furthermore remarkable in having 
maintained its course to the Ohio against an arching uplift of the plateau 
in late geological times, whereby the district traversed by its middle waters 
was elevated about 1,000 feet more than that about its upper waters ; but 
in spite of this discouragement, the river cut down its channel and held 
to its former path ■ thus acquiring a right to membership in the interesting 
class of antecedent rivers. There is not another river in the whole 
Appalachian region that so well preserves its ancient course. 

The Southern Plateau.- — Beginning on the south-west, as it emerges 
from the southern coastal plain, the features of the Southern Plateau may 
be called coarse-textured, inasmuch as tablelands that measure several 
miles across rise between broad-floored valleys. Here the uplands are 
known as the Cumberland Plateau or Tableland, for the most part a forested 
wilderness. Although containing great stores of coal, there has been little 
mining until within recent years, in the return of prosperity to the southern 
States after the civil war. The plateau is peculiar in falling off on the 
north-west by an escarpment almost as strong, but much less straight than 
that by which it is limited on the south-east. The surface thus descends 
as if by a great step to a platform of less elevation, underlain by limestones ; 
here occur the numerous caverns of Tennessee and Kentucky, of which the 
Mammoth cave is the most famous. Further to the north-west the platform 



The United States 733 

is underlain by sandstone, furnishing an infertile soil, and discouraging an 
impoverished population, in remarkable contrast with the fortunate occu- 
pants of the limestone lowlands next beyond, the famous Blue Grass 
country of Kentucky and the less known but equally fertile Nashville basin 
of Tennessee (B G and N in Fig. 353). Looking back from the extensive 
farms of the limestone lowlands, one sees a wooded bluff, several hundred 
feet in height, known as the Highland Rim. It was from a point on that 
part of the rim known as Muldraughs hill that Daniel Boone, late in the 
eighteenth century, first saw the beautiful lowland that his followers 
settled, and thus founded what afterwards came to be the State of Ken- 
tucky. 

The Middle Plateau. — The middle part of the plateau, in eastern 
Kentucky and West Virginia, reaches altitudes of 3,000 and 4,000 feet, so 
that its dissected uplands fully deserve the name of mountains, by which 
they are locally known ; and the people appropriately call themselves 
" mountaineers." As in Tennessee, the region is a great forested wilder- 
ness. The separate uplands are seldom broad enough to support more 
than a small community ; often not more than a single family, who find 
life hard and lonesome. Farming is unprofitable, for most of the surface 
consists of steep hillside slopes, belted around with contouring sandstone 
ledges ; if the forest were cleared and the ground ploughed, much of the 
soil would soon be washed away. Roads are rough and steep, badly 
washed by heavy rains ; to keep them in good condition would cost large 
sums of money, far beyond the means of the county treasuries. The 
valleys are deep, and their narrow floors are exposed to destructive floods 
that rise suddenly in wet weather. Bridges are an expensive luxury that 
only the more important highways can maintain : when streams cannot be 
forded in time of high water, travel is for a time suspended. The railroad 
that follows the deep canyon of the Kanawha through the plateau brings 
the lower lands on the east and west into close connection, but it has little 
effect on the people among the hills. Even the branch lines that carry out 
coal and lumber leave the greater part of the plateau country untouched 
and untamed. The people still live in primitive log houses ; hand looms 
are no rarities ; wild game is almost as important a food supply as garden 
produce ; the rifle is as familiar as the spade. Feuds are kept up for years 
between rival families, and personal differences are settled by an appeal to 
arms rather than to the courts. 

The Northern Plateau. — A less altitude prevails in the plateau within 
the limits of Pennsylvania, where 2,000 feet will measure most of the 
upland heights. Here a greater degree of settlement has accompanied the 
fuller development of the great natural resources of the region, both of 
these advances being promoted by the neighbourhood of the great manu- 
facturing communities, at first in the north-east, and afterwards in the north- 
west as well, where a ready market is found for the bituminous coal, the 
rock oil or petroleum, and the lumber of the plateau. Railroads are nume- 
6 



734 The International Geography 

rous and monopolistic corporations dominate the politics of the State. 
Pittsburg has attained an altogether unusual population for a city in the 
plateau district ; it was favoured at first by its situation at the junction of 
the head branches (Allegheny and Monongahela) of the Ohio, down whose 
ample current so many early settlers of the western prairies found easy 
transportation ; later by the marvellous development of industries and rail- 
roads in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is now one of the 
greatest manufacturing centres in the United States ; the ironworks in and 
near the city are the admiration of the technical world. 

The north-east extremity of the plateau, known as the Catskill Mountains, 
contains summits as high as those of West Virginia. No mineral products 
of value, other than too abundant building stone, are found here ; hence 
the mountains remain thinly populated, and are chiefly noted as a summer 
resort for the crowded population of New York City. Further west, along 
the southern borders of New York State, the plateau is less elevated, and 
its rolling uplands and open valleys contain an agricultural population. 
It happens that this portion of the plateau contains no coal, and com- 
paratively little rock oil ; the productive fields being almost entirely south 
of the Pennsylvania boundary. 

Outliers of the Laurentian Highlands. — The rugged Adiron- 
dack Mountains of northern New York, and the highlands of northern 
Wisconsin and Michigan are outlying representatives of the Laurentian 
highlands of Canada. They consist of extremely ancient rocks, for the 
most part thoroughly indurated and very resistant. Although their 
structures are greatly disordered, their relief is of moderate measure ; 
in the Adirondacks, the highest summit, Mount Marcy, is but little more 
than 5,000 feet above sea-level, with valleys one or two thousand feet deep 
around it ; in northern Wisconsin, the altitude of the highlands is not so 
great, and their local dissection is much more gentle. Both of these are 
forested wildernesses, unattractive to the farmer, but tempting to the 
lumberman. The ancient rocks contain valuable stores of iron ore, less 
important in the Adirondacks than in upper Michigan, where they are 
extensively mined and shipped down the Lakes to furnaces near the coal 
regions. The uplands bordering on Lake Superior are peculiar in contain- 
ing deposits of native copper, unknown elsewhere in the world. The 
Adirondacks are separated from the Laurentian region by an ancient 
trough that has been filled with Palaeozoic rock layers and re-excavated in 
comparatively modern geological times. It is followed by the St. Law- 
ence river, an important waterway, but so young On its present course 
that in spite of its great volume, many rapids still interrupt its channel. 
The Wisconsin-Michigan uplands (O L in Fig. 353), are separated from 
the Laurentian plateau in Canada by the broad and deep trough of Lake 
Superior of uncertain origin, but of great value as a member of the vast 
system of inland waterways by which the wheat of the north-west, the 
ores of the uplands, and the lumber from the forests are carried to the 



The United States 735 

more populous States. The outlet of Lake Superior is interrupted by- 
rapids ; hence its name, the Sault (pronounced Soo) Ste. Marie. These are 
passed by a canal that has been constructed around them on the southern 
side (see Fig. 344) ; the tonnage passing through this canal rivals in 
quantity, although not in value, that of the Suez canal. 

The Adirondack region, and to a less degree the highlands of Wis- 
consin also, serve as camping and hunting grounds in the summer vacation 
season, when civilised man seems to enjoy a temporary return to the 
wilder ways of his remote ancestors. 

THE OHIO REGIONS AND PRAIRIES 

The Ohio Region. — The region north of the Ohio and east of the 
Mississippi is one of the most valuable parts of the United States. The 
surface is of moderate relief, nearly everywhere open to occupation. The 
soil is rich, the climate encouraging. Into this magnificent territory has 
poured a tide of immigration during the nineteenth century with which the 
history of the world has no parallel. The struggles for the acquisition of 
the land were practically completed before the century opened ; struggles 
in which the stronger invaders repeated too often the harsh treatment that 
a higher race inflicts upon a lower, but which nevertheless lead forward to 
progress in the end. The northern Atlantic States, as well as the countries 
of north-west Europe, furnished hundreds of thousands of able-bodied 
workers under whose hands the Ohio basin region has grown to marvellous 
productiveness, activity, and wealth, fully warranting the opinion of Lewis 
Evans of Philadelphia in 1750, when he urged Great Britain to gain 
possession of this " great extent of good land in a happy climate," arguing 
that whatever nation wins it must inevitably gain the balance of power on 
the continent. 

The Ohio Region as an Ancient Coastal Plain. — The physical 
features of the Ohio region are best explained by regarding it as an ancient 
coastal plain, skirting the older Laurentian lands of Canada and their out- 
liers in the Adirondacks and the Wisconsin highlands. Travelling 
southward from the rugged Laurentian highlands of Canada on the 
meridian of Niagara, a traveller would see the rugged country merge into 
the fertile lowland of Ontario, partly submerged under the lake of that 
name ; all this low ground being an " inner lowland " worn down on the 
weak under layers of the ancient coastal plain. Crossing to Niagara, the 
ascent of a bluff or escarpment of strong limestone, two or three hundred 
feet in height, makes a distinct break in the general smoothness of the 
lowland and leads to a broad upland, which then gradually slopes south- 
ward to the trough of Lake Erie, a second lowland underlain by weak 
strata, and in turn enclosed by the hills that form the northern border of 
the Allegheny plateau. Thus two inner lowlands and two uplands form 
belts along the border of the Laurentian country ; and the rest of the Ohio 
region may be described in terms of these elementary forms. 



736 The International Geography 

The Mohawk Valley. — Following the fading Niagara escarpment 
eastward beyond its disappearance near Rochester, one sees the two low- 
lands of Ontario and Erie blend into one, forming the rich farming country 
of western New York ; then narrowing as the Adirondacks come forward 
from Canada and thus define the Mohawk valley between their southern 
slope and the escarpment of the Helderbergs, which here forms the north- 
eastern extremity of the Allegheny plateau. It is the confluence of the 
Mohawk valley with the navigable tidewater of the Hudson that opened 
the Great West to the port of New York City. At first an Indian trail, then 
the path of the frontier settlers driving their waggons up the valley road, 
next the course of the famous Erie canal whose construction in the first 
half of the nineteenth century was a fit achievement for the Empire State, 
now followed by important railroad lines, the Mohawk valley was always 
a leading line of movement between the east and west. There can be 
little question that the port that stands in closest connection with its 
eastern end shall long be pre-eminent on the Atlantic coast. It is true 
that Philadelphia stands nearer the Ohio region, and that the great railway 
leading thence to Pittsburg and beyond has the advantage of least distance ; 
but its way leads over the Allegheny plateau where gradients are heavy. 
It is true that a shorter railway has been constructed from New York to 
Buffalo than that which follows up the Hudson and the Mohawk ; but the 
shorter line crosses the Allegheny plateau where it is broader than in 
Pennsylvania, and it has had to pay dearly for its defiance of natural 
pathways ; indeed, had English investors known more of the form of the 
land when this venturesome road was projected, they would not have 
become so largely its owners. Binghampton and Elmira are the only 
considerable cities on its way among the hills ; while the Hudson valley, 
the Mohawk valley, and the southern border of the Ontario lowland include 
a much greater population in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Troy, 
Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Auburn and Roohester. 

The Great Lakes and the Prairies. — In tracing the Ohio region 
westward, it is interesting to note the relation of its belted lowlands and 
uplands to the basins of the Great Lakes and to the path of the inter- 
national boundary. The northern border belts of the Ohio region are 
. neither straight nor persistent ; they vary greatly from the type section on 
the Niagara meridian. The basins of the Great Lakes exhibit a close 
relation to the lowland belts. Ontario, Georgian Bay and Green Bay (on 
the west side of Lake Michigan) occupy depressed parts of the inner low- 
land ; Erie, Huron and Michigan occupy corresponding parts of the 
second lowland. Between the lakes, the lowlands offer excellent farming 
districts. The upland of the Niagara limestone, between the two lowland 
belts, with its bluff looking across the inner lowland towards the rugged 
old Laurentian land, may be traced with varying strength even beyond the 
Mississippi ; it is of moderate height, and is not rugged enough to dis- 
courage settlement. Its course (N on Fig. 353) leads north-west across 



The United States 737 



the Province of Ontario to the belt of islands that divides Georgian Bay 
and Lake Huron ; .westward through the eastern arm of upper Michigan 
State ; southward through eastern Wisconsin in the ridge that divides 
Green Bay from Lake Michigan ; and then curves through northern 
Illinois into north-eastern Iowa. Artesian wells afford an abundant water 
supply in this ancient coastal plain south of the Wisconsin highlands. The 
Allegheny upland, bounding the lowlands in southern New York, fades 
away westward in Ohio ; an isolated upland, coal-bearing and forested like 
the Allegheny plateau, but subdued in form, occupies lower Michigan 
between Lakes Huron and Michigan. The lumber from this region has 
led to the growth of the city of Grand Rapids, where household furniture is 
largely made. 

It is but natural that the international boundary should have followed 
the manifest line of the lakes and rivers, rather than the more irregular and 
less distinct line that marks the inner border of the ancient coastal plain ; 
and if by thus departing from one physical guide for another the United 
States have lost peninsular Ontario, they have gained the great mineral 
deposits of the upper Michigan highlands. It should be remarked that 
Lake Superior is unlike the other lakes in being unrelated to the belts of 
the ancient coastal plain. Its basin is an anomaly, a puzzle to the 
geomorphologist, who has not yet been able to give a good account of it. 
The basin must be of recent origin, for if ancient, it would long ago have 
been filled with sediments and converted into a plain. 

The hills of the Allegheny plateau are not seen in Ohio west of Cleve- 
land ; and with their disappearance a broad expanse of country opens 
towards the Mississippi, originally wooded in the east, a treeless prairie 
further west. This great extension of the Erie lowland is now divided 
into the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Little wonder that the early 
farmers of the rugged New England hills sent their sons out to this 
wonderful farming land of deep and rich soil. Little wonder that such 
of the European immigrants as did not stop in the Atlantic cities passed 
the uplands of the Allegheny plateau before settling upon their new 
homes. Little wonder that those who found so bountiful a welcome on 
the prairies, became Americanised in the first generation ; never has so 
composite a population been so rapidly unified. With free movement, 
with rapidly growing population, with wonderful increase in wealth, one 
here sees few of the old-fashioned ways of living that still remain in the 
enclosed valleys of the Atlantic highlands. The rough cabin or log house 
was usually replaced by a well-built frame cottage within the life of the 
first settler ; and his sons and grandsons, leaders in the growing com- 
munities, often occupy mansions of some pretension, albeit their architecture 
seldom follows classic lines. 

The rivers at first served as important lines of travel and transportation. 
The growth of Cincinnati was for many years as much dependent on the 
trade that followed the Ohio river as on the rich farming country that 



738 The International Geography 

surrounded it. Canals were cut between the headwater branches of the 
Ohio and Mississippi and the waters of the Great Lakes ; the lakes them- 
selves, consecrated to peace after the war of 1812, lie with extended shore 
lines along the northern border of the great fertile country, and a whole 
series of important cities has been built on their southern side — Buffalo, 
Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee. But important as the 
rivers have been and. as the lakes are still, it is to the marvellous develop- 
ment of railroads on the level prairies that the industrial and commercial 
activity of the region is most largely due. Distance is their only obstacle, 
and that they overcome by building single tracks ; they have few cuttings 
or embankments, they cross each other on the level, and gather in tangled 
ganglia in many prairie centres like Columbus, Indianapolis, and Spring- 
field. An open country, occupied by a few Indians a century ago, has 
suddenly become populous and rich, and the manufacturer and the rail- 
road magnate take the place of the feudal baron of Europe. 

Glacial action in the Ohio region. — Various geographical features 
have already been traced backward to their origin in past geological 
processes, and forward to their control over human distribution and 
occupations. This phase of geographical study nowhere receives more 
striking illustration than in those elements of form that have resulted 
directly or indirectly from the action of the ice sheets of the glacial period. 
It has been too generally the custom to set such subjects aside, as if they 
belonged only in the province of the geologist ; but in the Ohio region as 
in New England events without number, great and small, from trifling 
matters of individual action to momentous problems of national importance, 
have turned on the geographical results of ice action. Once recognised, 
their meaning cannot be neglected. The soils on which the richness of 
the Ohio region depends are almost wholly of glacial origin. Smooth 
sheets of till were spread out under the invading ice sheet where it could 
drag along no further the rock waste that t it brought from nearer its 
source ; still smoother sheets of silt were deposited in various marginal 
lakes, large and small. Sheets of loess, ascribed to wind action by many 
observers, to turbid fluviatile waters by others, are found in the south- 
western part of the district, and reappear in greater force beyond the 
Mississippi. Far from being a destructive agency, the ice sheets and their 
associated processes were here largely constructive ; they buried the pre- 
existent topography, extinguished the pre-glacial drainage, and made the 
surface over anew. The soil of the till plains is more or less stony ; that 
of the silt and loess plains is almost impalpably fine. All are rich soils, 
for they consist in greatest part of pulverised rock, not exhausted by 
vegetable growth while weathering, but worn mechanically from its parent 
ledges under the desert ice sheets and in the ice-fed rivers. 

The plains of till, silt, and loess are so extensive and continuous, that 
rock ledges are unknown for many miles together ; pre-glacial hills and 
valleys are completely buried over large areas ; it is only in the sides of 



The United States 739 

young valleys, recently cut through the glacial deposits, that the ledges are 
exposed. The geojogist hardly knows where to draw the boundaries of 
rock formations ; he has to trust largely to the samples brought up from 
the welis and deep borings that have been made in search of oil and gas. 
The absence of trees on the prairies has been ascribed by some to the 
fineness of the soil ; by others, to Indian fires. It appears probable that 
both these causes have had effect. The climate of the region is certainly 
favourable, for trees flourish when planted. On the other hand, trees are 
absent from the western plains because of lack of rainfall ; and the blend- 
ing of plain and prairie west of the Mississippi has sometimes given rise to 
the wrong idea that their treelessness was due to a common cause. 

It may now be understood how strikingly the soil and the surface of 
the prairies north of the Ohio differ from those further south, as in the 
Blue Grass region of Kentucky. There the soil is of local origin and varies 
with the nature of the rock beneath ; hence the sharp contrast between 
the fertility of the Blue Grass district and the barrenness of the adjoining 
sandstone uplands already mentioned. In the glaciated region, local and 
distant materials are well mixed ; there is generally an excess of local 
material, but it seldom prevails in such quantity as to make the soil very 
much better or worse than the average. The hills of south-eastern Ohio, 
outside of the glaciated district, should be regarded as a part of the 
dissected Allegheny plateau ; but whatever hills there once were in north- 
western Ohio are now buried under the drift. One part of the State has 
many coal mines, the other has extensive farms. In the same way southern 
Indiana and Illinois, beyond the border of the drift, exhibit local details 
of topographic form dependent on rock structure, and accompanied by 
relatively sudden changes in the character and value of the soils, similar to 
those found south of the Ohio river in Kentucky ; the central and northern 
parts of these States are smoothly drift covered for scores of miles. 

Corn (Indian corn, or maize) is the characteristic crop of the drift region 
from Ohio to Nebraska. Its growth is favoured by hot summer weather. 
Travelling by rail, one may pass miles and scores of miles of corn-fields, 
waving green in early summer, dull brown or gray in early autumn. 
Other grains are also raised in abundance. Great herds of cattle are 
pastured on the drift prairies, rivalling the product of the western plains. 
Roads very generally follow the north-and-south or east-and-west lines by 
which the land was originally divided for sale from the government to the 
people. Road-making is generally done by a scraping machine, which 
throws the soil from a ditch on either side to an arch in the middle ; in 
wet weather they have many sloughs, where waggon wheels sink hub-deep. 
In the villages and cities vitrified brick is coming to be largely used for 
paving, in the absence of good road metal. Barbed wire is now almost 
universally used for fencing on the treeless prairies. 

The broad surface of the drift plains is here and there interrupted by 
looped belts of low hills, convex southward ; these are the terminal 



740 The International Geography 

moraines of the ice lobes into which the front of the glacial sheet was 
divided ; each trough of low ground on the north allowed the ice to move 
faster and further forward, while each district of higher ground, like the 
Allegheny Plateau of eastern Ohio, the uplands of lower Michigan, and the 
highlands of Wisconsin, retarded the advance. Although of moderate 
relief, the morainic belts are usually the only hills visible over hundreds of 
miles of prairie, hence they commonly serve to define the subdivides 
between river headwaters, although not ranking as equals in this respect 
with the upland belts of the ancient coastal plain. The moraines have a 
moderately rolling surface, they are sometimes strewn with boulders ; their 
hollows contain numerous ponds and marshes. 

Effect of Glacial Action on Drainage. — Rivers running from the 
glaciated area bore with them an abundant load of waste, and thus built 
up their valley floors into broad flood plains ; but since the disappearance 
of the ice and the decrease of the waste furnished to them, the rivers have 
trenched the valley flood plains, forming terraces, and sometimes pro- 
ducing falls and rapids where the entrenching streams have cut down 
upon buried ledges ; but the water power thus provided is much less than 
in New England, on account of the small relief of the region and the slow 
descent of the valley floors. The lakes which gathered on the land that 
sloped towards the retreating ice sheets marked their shore lines with 
beaches, many of which are so well preserved that they are used as 
naturally graded roads. The outlets of these glacial lakes were at the 
lowest passes across the height of land on the south. Strong rivers ran from 
the greater lakes, scouring out broad channels, now abandoned except by 
the waters of such small side streams as happen to enter them. A well- 
defined channel of this kind is incised to a slight depth across the drift- 
covered surface of northern Indiana, where the waters of the expanded 
Lake Erie (when its present outlet was obstructed by ice) ran out by the 
Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. Another channel discharged the 
expanded waters of Lake Michigan to the headwaters of the Illinois river 
across the south-western border of the lake basin ; there an Indian portage 
was naturally found when white settlers .entered the region ; a military 
outpost, Fort Dearborn, was established on this travelled path early in the 
nineteenth century, and there Chicago has since grown. The old channel 
of overflow has been a little deepened, a current of water is drawn through 
it from the lake to the Mississippi system, and the drainage of the city is 
thus to be disposed of in the future. 

Chicago is the epitome and climax of the prairie and lake region. 
Its lofty buildings disclose a boundless prairie to the west and south, and a 
boundless blue lake to the east. No other city in America is the focal 
point of so many lines and systems of railroads. No other lake port has so 
valuable a commerce. No other city in the world has grown to so huge a 
population in so short a time — an empty prairie in 1830 ; more than a 
million of population at the close of the century. From an idle military 



The United States 



74i 



post, Chicago has risen in seventy years — the span of a single lifetime — to 
a sensationally active market for traffic in cattle, grain, and lumber ; as the 
centre of trade for a vast region, it feeds the east and furnishes the west. 
The immediate site of the city had few advantages for the seat of a great 
population. The ground was so low and flat as to be poorly drained, and 
after the growth of the city had been well begun, the buildings and streets 
had to be raised to a higher level than that of the natural prairie. The lake 
shore was open to storms, and the little river that alone gave protection to 
shipping had to be enlarged like a canal before it could admit many 
vessels. To counterbalance these disadvantages, Chicago stands in the 
midst of a vast prairie region, at a point where all overland travel from 
the east must turn round the southern end of Lake Michigan on the way 
to the great North-West ; and to 
this fact of general relations much 
more than to any immediate local 
advantage has the great city owed 
its growth. Rapid growth has not 
been altogether an advantage, for 
a city that has increased in popu- 
lation so fast as Chicago cannot 
have exercised a careful selection 
in the choice of its new members. 
Like other great cities, it exhibits 
many of the unattractive sides of 
human nature, but from about the 
time of the Columbian Exhibition 
of 1893, various signs of better 
growth have appeared. The in- 
numerable railroads all originally 
crossed each other's tracks on the 
level, but the correction of this 
difficulty is now actively in pro- 
gress. The immense wealth gathered in the city has found new application 
in the establishment of a university and a museum, whose development 
has advanced by wondrous strides. Already the centre of population has 
passed the meridian of Chicago. However important the harbour cities 
may be in relation to Europe, the great interior City on the Lake promises 
soon to outrank them in all domestic relations. 

Niagara and the Great Lakes. — A whole series of events reaching 
from the close of the glacial period past the present into the future, 
associate Niagara river, the Great Lakes, and the city of Chicago in a 
most curious history. The lakes, except Superior, occupy lowlands or 
depressions which, as has been pointed out, are closely dependent upon 
the structure of the ancient coastal plain between the Laurentian high- 
lands of Canada and the Ohio prairies. Although the problem of the 




FlG. 359. — The Site of Chicago. 



742 The International Geography 

origin of the lakes is still unsolved, their history during the retreat of the 
latest ice-sheet has been well deciphered during the last twenty years, and 
now offers a consecutive story of extraordinary interest and importance to 
the geographer. As the ice withdrew from its last great advance numerous 
small disconnected water bodies were formed along its margin ; but as 
the retreat of the ice continued, the many small lakes coalesced into a few 
lakes of much larger size ; and ultimately perhaps all these were reduced 
to a single sheet of water of very irregular outline, escaping to the 
Mississippi by a single outlet at the site of Chicago. This outlet was 
probably maintained while the ice still lay heavily on the lands to the 
north-east ; but as the ice front withdrew, lower outlets were offered, first 
eastward by the Mohawk to the Hudson, then north-east by the St. 
Lawrence as to-day. As the change from the southern to the eastern 
drainage was approaching, a considerable river ran along the trough 
defined by the northern slope of the Allegheny Plateau in central New 
York, and the southern slope of the ice front ; this being known by the 
channels cut across the spurs of the plateau in the neighbourhood of 
Syracuse, where they are conspicuous features. Later on, when the 
eastern discharge was fully established, and the Chicago outlet was 
abandoned, the great marginal lake was divided into a larger western and 
a smaller eastern part by the Niagara upland between the Erie and the 
Ontario basins ; the latter overflowing down the Mohawk while the ice 
still filled the St. Lawrence valley, and afterwards sinking to a lower level 
when the St. Lawrence valley was opened. Several lines of discharge for 
a time flowed northward across the Niagara upland, and fell down its 
north-facing bluff into the lowland beneath ; but of these only the Niagara 
river has survived ; its fall has now been worn back nearly seven miles 
from its original position. 

During all these remarkable changes the land was slowly rising in the 
north-east, as if relieved of the weight of the ice by which it had been for 
a time depressed ; this being known by the gentle north-eastward ascent 
of the earlier lake-shore lines. The change of level thus brought about had 
much influence in determining the location of the successive lake outlets. 
As the ice sheet uncovered the lowlands of" south-western Ontario, a line of 
discharge was opened eastward from Georgian Bay at a lower level than 
the roundabout flow through Lake Erie ; and for a time the upper lakes 
were allowed to discharge directly eastward. During this interval only 
Lake Erie fed Niagara, and the part of the gorge then cut by the reduced 
river is much narrower than that of earlier and later dates. As the land 
rose in the north-east, the path of the discharge eastward from Georgian 
Bay became too high for the lake outlet ; hence the waters of the upper 
lakes again ran round through Erie, Niagara was restored to the full 
volume which it has since maintained, and the gorge was cut to full width 
again. A consequence of the variation in the width of the gorge is seen 
in the position of the two great railroad bridges by which it is crossed ; 



The United States 743 

they are close together, spanning the narrow portion of the gorge that was 
cut while the volume of the Niagara was diminished by the diversion of 
the upper lake waters to the more direct outlet across the Ontario district. 

The rise of land in the north-east not only turned the discharge of the 
upper lakes back to Erie and Niagara, it raised all the lake waters on their 
south-western shores ; thus a number of little valleys were flooded into 
bays, furnishing harbours such as that which determined the location of 
Toledo at the south-west end of Lake Erie. By a similar movement, the 
water at the southern end of Lake. Michigan has been raised again from 
the level that it must have had while the land was lower in the north-east 
and the eastward outlet was maintained from Georgian Bay ; thus the 
Michigan waters have returned very nearly to the level of the earlier time, 
when the northern end of the lake was blocked by ice, and the outlet ran 
south-westward past the site of Chicago. Not only so ; the rising of the 
land in the north-east and resulting change of water levels still continues, 
and at a rate rapid enough to be discovered in the brief period during 
which accurate measurements have been made of the lake waters. An 
examination of a number of authentic records by Gilbert has shown that 
there is a tilting of 0*42 feet in a hundred miles in a century. If continued, 
the backing up of the waters on the southern end of Lake Michigan will 
be much faster than their lowering on account of the work of Niagara in 
wearing down its falls ; and in two or three thousand years all the lakes 
but Ontario will again be tributary to the Mississippi river. 

The Upper Mississippi River. — No one can say where the source 
of the Mississippi River lay in pre-glacial times. Its present head in Lake 
Itasca is not determined by the long and slow adjustments characteristic 
of river sources in mountainous regions, such as the Older Appalachian 
Belt of North Carolina, but by the accidental position of a small lake in 
a morainic region. Its upper course strays across a comparatively open 
country, guided as much by the irregular deposits of drift as by the 
form of the underlying rock. It has incised a narrow and shallow valley, 
but is still too young to have worn down its many falls and rapids. 
Settlements have sprung up at many of the water powers thus determined. 
The most important of these is Minneapolis, at the lowest and the largest 
of the falls, those of St. Anthony, now famous for driving extensive flour- 
mills, where much of the wheat of the north-west is ground. Between the 
neighbouring cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul the narrow valley of the 
young Mississippi joins a broader valley now occupied by the Minnesota 
river, but formed by the large overflow of the glacial Lake Agassiz. The 
broader valley is thenceforward followed southward, St. Paul standing on 
its border at the head of navigation ; and thus the " twin cities," too close 
together for the needs of the region, are forced into an over-active rivalry. 
Lake Pepin, a short distance below St. Paul, is an expansion of the 
Mississippi caused by an abundant deposit of drift that was washed into 
the valley by the Chippewa river from the north-east, probably at a time 



744 The International Geography 

when the volume of the latter was enlarged by contributions from the 
melting ice sheet. Further on, the river generally possesses a flood plain 
a few miles in width, bounded by strong bluffs which ascend to the rolling 
prairie ; here the valley probably follows the course of the pre-glacial 
Mississippi ; but occasionally the river trough is much narrower, as if the 
pre-glacial course had been obstructed by drift, and a new course had been 
carved in post-glacial time. Masterful as the river is, it cannot pretend to 
great antiquity. It is the modern representative of an ancient river, but it 
departs in many ways from the habit of its predecessor. A number of 
thriving cities of moderate size — Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, Quincy 
— are built on the valley floor or border ; their first advantage coming 
from the great north-and-south waterway ; but to-day the river is of little 
importance as compared to the railroads running east and west. Indeed, 
the river is now more of an impediment from having to be bridged, than 
an advantage as a public highway. 

The Ohio River. — The Ohio and its northern branches resemble 
the upper Mississippi system in many ways. Its trunk stream is now old 
enough to have opened a good flood plain between the enclosing hills. The 
head waters rise on drift barriers, by which the pre-glacial drainage system 
has been greatly modified. Many valleys that formerly discharged to Lake 
Erie are now blocked by moraines, and turn part of their waters to the 
Ohio. There is growing reason for the belief that a number of streams 
from as far south as the West Virginia plateau originally ran northward 
across Ohio to Lake Erie ; that an ice blockade of their lower (northern) 
courses in an early epoch of the glacial period caused them to rise in lakes 
and overflow westward across the hills at the lowest passes they could 
find ; and that in this accidental way the upper and middle Ohio valley 
was developed. If so, this river, by which so many settlers found their 
way to the prairies, is an indirect consequence of glacial action, like the 
water powers on which the manufactures of New England at first 
depended. Only the southern branches of the river can lay claim to great 
antiquity. Cincinnati and Louisville are the chief cities on the middle 
Ohio ; both profiting more largely to-day from the rich agricultural districts 
behind them, and from the railroads that lead across country, than from 
the rivers to whose advantages their location was originally due. Coal 
and lumber is still floated down the river from the hills of the Allegheny 
Plateau ; but the large river steamboats and their voyages from Pittsburg 
to the Mississippi are almost things of the past. Small river-boats to-day 
have a share of local traffic, but the railroads absorb nearly all the long- 
distance transportation. 

All these rivers are subject to severe floods, those of the Ohio being 
especially disastrous ; many of its branches, especially in the plateau 
district, gather rainfall rapidly from their steep valley sides. No lakes are 
present to equalise their discharge, the Ohio being strongly contrasted 
with the St. Lawrence in this respect. A destructive rise of from forty to 



The United States 745 

sixty feet, submerging the whole valley floor, and drowning the streets of 
many a village, must be expected once if not oftener in a decade. 

The Climate of the Ohio Region. — Cold winters and hot summers, 
with an equable distribution of rainfall through the year, are the leading 
features in the climate of the Ohio region. The hot summers are so 
productive that the cold of the winters is easily survived. The position 
of the region between the warm Gulf of Mexico on the far south, and the 
open plains of Canada on the far north-west, gives an unpleasant violence 
to its weather changes. The light southerly winds that prevail in front 
of cyclonic areas in midsummer cause excessive temperatures with high 
humidity under a hazy sky ; prostration from sunstroke is of common 
occurrence in the cities during these spells of true "sirocco" weather. 
The Atlantic cities are subject to the same affliction, but seldom of so great 
severity as on the prairies. As the cyclonic centre passes eastward, the 
wind shifts to west or north-west, the sky clears to a bright blue, and the 
temperature falls to a moderate degree. Violent thunderstorms and 
tornadoes often mark the transition from one weather type to another. In 
contrast with these excessive heats of summer and their cool waves are 
the mild southerly winds of winter and their cold waves ; the latter are 
piercing blasts that sweep suddenly down from the Canadian plains, 
reducing the temperature to zero or lower, and causing sudden frost after 
the thaw of the southerly winds. Like the warm waves of summer, the 
cold waves of winter reach the Atlantic coast, even as far south as Florida, 
but with diminished intensity as they move forward from their remote 
northern source. 

THE SOUTHERN COASTAL PLAIN 

The Southern Coastal Plain. — The account already given of the 
Atlantic Coastal Plain as far south as the Carolinas prepares the way for 
following its extension westward, where it wraps around the southern 
Appalachians and turns into the Mississippi embayment. The mountains 
gradually decrease in height, although preserving their disordered 
structures in full strength, and thus disappear below the covering strata of 
the coastal plain in northern Georgia and Alabama. With the burial of 
the mountains, the granite and marble quarries of the older belt, and the 
coal and iron mines -of the newer belt, give way to the agricultural 
industries of the plain. The plain is well dissected and hilly in the interior, 
with local relief of from two to four hundred feet ; it gradually descends 
towards the coast, and there falls to broad prairies, recently emerged from 
the waters of the Gulf, still flat and marshy. Pine forests cover much of 
the region, yielding valuable lumber as well as resinous products. The 
population is generally rural or gathered in small villages ; even the largest 
cities are of moderate size. Middle Alabama offers the only peculiar 
feature that deserves special description ; this is a belted arrangement of 
form, such as has been described for New Jersey. An inner lowland 




Fig. 360. — The Alabama 
Coastal Plain. 



746 The International Geography 

borders the older land of the Appalachians ; an upland known as 
Chunnenugga Ridge encloses the inner lowland ; and the outer slope of 
the "ridge" descends to the flat coastal prairies. The inner lowland has 
been worn down on a weak, loose-textured lime- 
stone ; its flat surface is covered by a rich soil, 
and here is the chief cotton belt of the State with 
the largest cities of the agricultural district. 
Being without good road metal, the roads are 
often impassable in the spring ; the traveller 
must then mount a horse and take to the fields. 
The "ridge" stands up because its strata are 
more resistant than those of the inner lowland ; 
being sandy for the most part, their soils are 
relatively infertile. The coastal prairies are low, 
because they have never been uplifted high ; they 
are smooth because they cannot ' be dissected 
while standing near sea-level. Mobile, at the head 
of a bay formed by drowning the lower valley 
of Alabama river, the result of a slight depres- 
sion of the region, is the chief port of the Gulf coast, east of the Mississippi. 
Slavery. — The Southern Coastal Plain is chiefly responsible for the 
grievous affliction of slavery that so long blighted the southern States and 
poisoned the whole country. The settlements of the whole Atlantic coast 
were at first to blame for the iniquity, for slaves were originally held in 
New England as well as in Virginia and the Carolinas ; but in the north 
slave labour was of so little profit that sordid motives did not deceive the 
awakening conscience of the people ; and before the system gained a 
strong hold it was uprooted. In the south, on the other hand, slave labour 
on the plantations became extremely profitable ; and moreover, the heat of 
summer, it has often been asserted, was too, severe for white labourers. 
The principles of the people very naturally followed their profitable 
practice, and slavery became an established institution. The population 
was thus divided into three chief classes, the white slaveholders, the land- 
owners and leaders, financially and politically, of the south, men of wealth, 
ability, and high position ; the poor whites or " white trash," in large part 
the descendants of very undesirable colonists of early days, owning no 
slaves and very little property, lazy, ignorant, and poverty-stricken, despised 
by both the other classes ; and the negro slaves, with no property or 
influence whatever. To these three classes a fourth may be added ; the 
sturdier people of the uplands, inland from the coastal plain, often owning 
no slaves, sometimes owning a few, not profiting enough by the system of 
slavery to be strongly attached to it, yet not sufficiently wealthy or politi- 
cally important to exert much influence, and too generally casting what 
influence they had with the more ardent slaveholders as against the people 
of the north. 



The United States 



747 




FIG. 361 — The Old Slave States and the present 
Distribution of Negroes. 



If the distribution of the wealthy and the influential slaveholders were 
charted, it would be found to be closely associated with the Southern 
Coastal Plain, and especially with the belts of richer soil. The piedmont 
border of the Appalachian belt, the inland Appalachian valley (the Shenan- 
doah valley of Virginia and the Valley of East Tennessee), the flood plain 
of the Mississippi and the isolated limestone basins of western Tennessee 
and northern Kentucky (the Blue Grass country) were also profitable slave- 
holding districts ; but the stronghold of the system was on the coastal 
plain. Better that the 
plain should never have 
grown a pound of cotton, 
better that its fertile 
strata should never have 
emerged from the waters 
of the sea, than that 
slavery and its direful, 
long-lasting consequences 
should have come upon 
the United States. Now 
after a dreadful struggle, 
slavery is abolished and 
better conditions are 
ushered in. Considerable sums of public money are devoted by the several 
States to the education of the negroes, but always apart from the whites ; 
many schools are supported by contributions from the northern States ; 
some advance is made in the ownership and cultivation of land and in the 
practice of trades ; but political rights are practically withheld from the 
former slaves ; there is still a great body of poor and ignorant negroes 
— often a majority of the population — set apart from the whites by all the 
prejudices that divide the races of mankind. The coastal plain has much 
to answer for, in so far as it led to this unhappy condition. 

Florida is an anomalous out-growth from the Southern Coastal Plain, 
a low up-arching of the sea floor, nowhere reaching more than a few 
hundred feet above sea-level. Much of its interior is underlain by lime- 
stones ; here numerous lakes are found as if occupying cavities dissolved 
out of the soluble rock, and many streams disappear in " sinks," emerging 
elsewhere in large springs. Nearer the coast the land is low and often 
marshy, especially in the south where the grassy Everglades form an 
impenetrable wilderness, and where the shore line is often bordered by 
mangrove swamps, especially on the western side. Remnants of Indian 
tribes are still found in this untamable country. The eastern coast is 
bordered by extensive sand reefs with remarkably even shore lines, 
enclosing long narrow lagoons. In Florida, as well as further north to 
Carolina, there are strata so rich in phosphatic deposits — largely derived from 
the bones of sea animals — as to be valuable as fertilizers ; they are already 



748 The International Geography 

excavated in shallow pits and exported in considerable quantity ; but this 
industry is only in its infancy, awaiting the further exhaustion of the soils in 
the northern farms for its full development. The southern extremity of 
Florida and the outlying islands are coral reefs ; in part slightly elevated 
and worn down again ; in part growing at sea-level ; thus resembling the 
extensive banks of the Bahamas to the south-east. 

The far southern reach of Florida between the Atlantic and the Gulf 
waters gives it an almost torrid climate. It has a plentiful rainfall, with a 
stronger maximum in summer than is found anywhere else in the United 
States. Tropical cyclones frequently pass the Florida coast in the late 
summer or early autumn, on their curved track between the West Indies 
and the North Atlantic. They sometimes cause disaster on the low coastal 
lands by brushing the sea-water ashore in storm tides, as well as by over- 
whelming the unwary mariner ; but their coming is generally announced 
by the Weather Bureau. The mild winters of Florida attract many 
invalids from the more severe climates of the northern States. The 
high mean temperature permits the cultivation of subtropical fruits, 
which are sent in large quantities to the northern markets ; but a cold 
wave occasionally sweeps down from the north-west in the late winter 
and freezes the orange trees and early vegetables ; hence fortunes have 
been lost as well as made in the orchards and farms of Florida. Key West, 
on an island off the south end of the peninsula, is the United States naval 
station for the Gulf. 

The Lower Mississippi. — During the deposition of the strata of 
the Southern Coastal Plain, a strong embayment occupied the place of 
the lower Mississippi. As the region was elevated, many rivers, formerly 
independent, were engrafted on a single trunk, and thus the "father of 
waters " was formed. The upper Mississippi deserves no higher rank than 
the Ohio and the Missouri ; indeed, in the matter of age, the Ohio head- 
waters in the Black Mountains of North Carolina and the Missouri head- 
waters in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, are 
much more ve*ierable than the post-glacial parvenus of the upper Mis- 
sissippi in Minnesota ; but the lower Mississippi combining them all is 
truly a great river. The early French explorers of North America entered 
the interior by its two chief waterways, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. 
Their presence is revealed by many names still in use, such as Quebec 
and Montreal, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Louisiana. 
The defeat of the French at Quebec transferred all their possessions on 
the northern river to British control. The purchase of Louisiana brought 
a western empire into the possession of the United States. In both cases 
the upper basin of the river followed the fate of the mouth. 

Although bearing a heavy load of silt, the great volume of the Mis- 
sissippi enables it to establish a channel of very gentle slope. Its vigorous 
meanders, swinging now this way, now that, have alternately worn back 
the bluffs on the east and west so that the flood plain has gained a breadth 



The United States 



749 



of from thirty to sixty miles over a length of 600 miles, 
the plain slopes gently away from the river 
banks, and is therefore liable to be flooded at 
times of high water. Hardly a year passes but 
a moderate flood occurs in one part or another ; 
hardly a decade without a devastating inunda- 
tion. Near the river the plain is partly cleared 
and cultivated : its rich soil produces abundant 
crops of cotton and sugar cane. Further back 
upon the river a great part of the plain is 
not yet cleared. Southward, the flood plain 
continues into the delta, which is rapidly build- 
ing forward into the Gulf. The river there 
divides into a number of outgoing branches or 
distributaries, each of which is enclosed in its 
furthest advance by low and narrow banks of 
mud. Few deltas in the world more clearly 
exhibit in their digitate outline the intention of 
their river ; few are more indifferent to the 
desire of the waves to turn their front into a 
smooth convex curve. The mouths of the dis- 
tributaries are known as "passes" ; at one of 
them, jetties have been formed to confine the 
river breadth, increase its velocity, and thus 
cause it to scour out a deeper channel for the 
advantage of navigation. No large cities have 
grown upon the flood plain except New Orleans, 
the chief city of the Gulf coast, the harbour 
city where internal and external commerce meet 



The greater part of 




Fig. 362.— The Mississippi Flood 
Plain (white). 



Its population contains 
many Creoles— Americans of French ancestry— and many Italian immi- 
grants. St. Louis, although 
above the mouth of the Ohio, 
may be regarded as standing 
at the head of the great flood 
plain. In earlier years, when 
river transportation was at its 
best development, the two 
cities of the lower Mississippi 
were intimately connected ; a 
voyage on a Mississippi steam- 
boat was an experience sui 
generis, in the way of boat con- 
struction and navigation, as 
well as in the chance of meet- 
slaves, cotton 




Fig. 363.— The end of the Mississippi Delta. 



ing with planters and gamblers, and of seeing a cargo of 

7 



75° The International Geography 



2 * « « 10 MCies 




and other merchandise." The trip may still be made ; there are still shift- 
ing sand bars on the " crossings " between the river curves, and there is still 

a great extent of unoccupied forest along 
the river banks ; but here, as well as 
further north, the rapid transportation 
of the railroad is largely replacing the 
slower movement of the river boat, 
except for local traffic supplied by the 
settlements on the flood plain itself. 
Between New Orleans and St. Louis, 
the chief settlements are at points where 
the swinging river touches the bluffs 
on one or other side of the plain. Hap- 
pening in this century to lie nearer the 
eastern side of the plain than the west- 
ern, Memphis, Tenn., Vicksburg, Miss., 
Fig. 364. — The Site of New Orleans. , «, , , jdv r> ~ t 

J ^ J and Natchez and Baton Rouge, La., are 

on the eastern bluffs. Helena, Ark., is the only important city on the 
western bluff below St. Louis. To these must be added Cairo, III., at the 
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi. 

If engineering skill ever suffices to control the floods of the Mississippi, 
to restrain the shifting of its meandering channel, and to drain the " back- 
swamps " of its flood plain, the whole surface may be cultivated. Already 
some steps have been taken toward this profitable end. A Mississippi 
River Commission has constructed elaborate maps of the river, and exten- 
sive dikes or " levees " are constructed along its banks. Another century 
may see great advance made from this beginning, and then the product of 
the Mississippi flood plain will be proportionate to its vast extent and its 
inexhaustible fertility. 

TRANS-MISSISSIPPI STATES 

The Trans-Mississippi States. — The tier of States from Minnesota 
to Louisiana immediately west of the Mississippi presents an epitomised 
review of what has already been described. Northern Minnesota is an 
extension of the Laurentian highlands, a region of ancient rocks worn 
down to moderate relief, rich in iron ores. It is abundantly strewn over 
with sheet drift and heaped moraines enclosing innumerable lakes. Its 
northward slope, with that of eastern North Dakota, drained by the Red 
River of the North, was the seat of the vast glacial-marginal Lake Agassiz, 
stretching far north into Canada against the retreating ice, and overflowing 
at a dip in the height of land on the south, where the channel now followed 
by the Minnesota river was cut. The shore lines of the lake and the 
deltas of inflowing rivers on the east and west are not less distinct than the 
channel of its outlet, although now abandoned by the waters that made 
them. As with the Laurentian glacial lakes, the shore lines of Lake 



The United States 



751 




Agassiz now rise northward at a slight inclination, proving an elevation of 
the land in the north during and since the disappearance of the ice sheet. 
The lake-floor, a vast treeless prairie, one of the most nearly level tracts on 
the face of the Earth, has been occu- 
pied by great wheat farms ; the fine 
texture of its soil, the smoothness of 
its surface, and its freedom from forest 
growth have promoted its rapid settle- 
ment, while the rolling drift country 
on the east and west, with its stony 
moraines, its abundant forest growth, 
and its many lakes and swamps, is less 
generally occupied. Here as elsewhere 
in the north-west, Scandinavian immi- 
grants are numerous. 

Southern Minnesota, Iowa, and 
northern Missouri — and the adjoining 
parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, and 
Kansas — resemble the western prairie 
States of the Ohio region. The sur- 
face is underlain by nearly horizontal 
strata of ancient date, similar to those 
which stretch southward from the 
Wisconsin highland. There is the same general concealment of rock 
ledges, except in the banks of the post-glacial stream courses ; the same 
wide expanse of gently undulating plains of till, the same ornamenta- 
tion by belts of hilly moraines. Most of the surface is treeless prairie, 
very fertile and widely cultivated. Many villages and small cities have 
sprung up, but there are as yet no large cities. Railroads are almost as 
plentiful as east of the Mississippi. There is no part of the United States 
in which the succession of earlier and later drift sheets is so well displayed. 
In the northern part of this district the forms produced by the ice are 
hardly modified, except close to the sharp-cut stream lines ; the till plains 
are still undissected, lakes are still present in the moraines : here the drift is 
very young. In the southern part there are no lakes and the surface of the 
drift is well carved by numerous branching streams into an undulating sur- 
face : here the drift is comparatively old. The interval between the earliest 
and latest ice advances must have been much longer than between the latest 
advance and the present day. The fertile loess mantle that so generally 
cloaks the more southern drift is distinctly associated with one of the 
earlier advances ; the latest advance produced no loess, but gave forth 
energetic rivers that bore streams of gravel along the valleys far beyond 
the terminal moraines. 

Tornadoes of the Mississippi Basin. — The plains immediately 
to the west of the Mississippi vie with those immediately to the east of the 



Fig. 365.— The Site of St. Louis. 



752 The International Geography- 
river in affording opportunity for the development of tornadoes during the 
spring and summer months. These violent and destructive whirlwinds 
are now shown to be almost limited to the south-eastern quadrant of large 
cyclonic or low pressure areas, in that part of the cyclonic track and in 
that season which provides strong contrasts of temperature and humidity 
in the inflowing winds. The same great cyclonic storm, a thousand miles 
in diameter, may be followed in its eastern progress all across North 
America, and far out upon the North Atlantic even to north-western 
Europe. The general circulation of its whirling indrafts is alike during 
its entire journey of five or ten thousand miles ; but only on passing 
the middle Mississippi basin in spring or summer are tornadoes frequently 
developed. They occur within thunderstorms, but by no means within 
every such local storm ; hence it may be inferred that their development 
depends on highly specialised conditions, such as warm and moist southerly 
winds in the lower atmosphere, and a probable overflow of cool and dry 
westerly winds aloft. The destructive tornado whirl, within which hangs 
a writhing funnel-shaped cloud, is seldom over a thousand yards in 
diameter. It travels rapidly, usually from south-west to north-east, avera- 
ging thirty miles an hour, while the velocity of the winds themselves must 
exceed a hundred miles per hour. The storm comes out of the cloudy 
west with little warning, lays waste its narrow path with a frightful roaring, 
and quickly disappears across the prairie. Trees and buildings are 
violently destroyed in a moment, if the full force of the whirl comes upon 
them. Little wonder that those who have witnessed but escaped a tornado's 
fury are nervously apprehensive when dark clouds gather over the western 
horizon in sultry summer weather. 

The Missouri Highlands. — The Missouri river roughly follows 
the border of the drift area on the west of the Mississippi, as the Ohio 
does on the east. There is some reason for thinking that the course of 
the river was determined when an early ice sheet lay on the country to the 
north-east of it, thus increasing its resemblance to the Ohio. It is now a well 
established river, with a flood plain generally several miles wide, incised one 
or two hundred feet below the uplands on either side. Many towns, like 
Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, occupy the bordering uplands where 
the swinging river impinges against the base of the bluff ; thus showing 
that here, as on the Ohio, river travel was important before the days of the 
railroad. Now many steamboats are rotting at their wharves. 

South of the Missouri, the land rises gradually to the Ozark Plateau (Oz 
in Fig. 353), a broad flat dome of Palaeozoic strata, in general less dissected, 
but singularly like the Allegheny plateau in many respects. The uplands 
include a number of ragged cucstas , that is, reliefs determined by the 
harder members of the plateau strata whose gently inclined position causes 
them to form escarpments of irregular front, two or three hundred feet in 
height on the outcrop side, but descending slowly to lower ground in the 
direction of their dip ; the belt of lower ground between the back slope of 



The United States 753 



one cuesta and the escarpment of the next being the surface expression of 
the weaker strata that lie between the cuesta-makers. The chief river 
valleys are cut down beneath the level of the belts of lower ground, and 
are therefore doubly deep in their passage through the uplands of the 
cuestas. They are generally steep sided and narrow floored : some of 
them have singularly meandering courses, like that of the Osage. The 
population is gathered on the broader interstream uplands, and is almost 
exclusively engaged in agriculture. The chief exception to this statement 
is found in the St. Francois Mountains, eastward from the higher parts of 
the plateau, where iron mining flourishes ; this being the natural result of 
the emergence here of several ancient mountain summits that rise through 
the stratified rocks of the plateau from a buried Archaean land surface. 
Iron Mountain is one of these summits ; Pilot Knob, a landmark seen 
from afar, is another. The plateau slowly decreases in height and increases 
in ruggedness on approaching its border in northern Arkansas. Across its 
whole breadth, there is an increase in the abundance of natural tree 
growth, in contrast to the treeless prairies of Iowa ; the rugged southern 
part of the Ozark Plateau is abundantly forested and thinly inhabited. 

The Arkansas Highlands. — The lower country of central Ar- 
kansas, next beyond the southern border of the Ozark Plateau, is deter- 
mined by the upturning of the strata, which from the beginning of their 
overlap on the Archaean floor of northern Minnesota had been almost 
horizontal. The denuded folds of the crushed rocks form the Ouachita 
Mountains, occupying a belt that trends east and west across middle Ar- 
kansas, disappearing under the embayment of the Southern Coastal Plain 
to the eastward, and extending far into the dry country to the westward 
(Ou in Fig. 353). Here so many repetitions of the Appalachian structure 
and form have been found that the Appalachian mountain-making disturb- 
ance of Permian time is now recognised as extending far beyond the limits 
originally assigned to it in Alabama. The harder strata stand up as ridges 
of moderate height, turning in angular zigzags of true Appalachian habit ; 
the streams cut through the ridges in sharp water gaps ; the farming 
country lies in the basins and " coves " divided by the ridges. Certain 
sandstone layers in the ridges are of extremely fine texture and are exten- 
sively quarried for whetstones. 

The uneducated population of the South is at its worst in the " piney 
woods" of central Arkansas. Whether because of inferior ancestry or 
because of the blight of slavery, the people of the country districts, white 
as well as black, are here miserably degraded. As so often elsewhere in 
the South, the shiftless farmers often buy seed for spring planting with 
money borrowed on the prospect of the autumn's harvest. They show 
little desire to improve their condition, and remain ignorant, badly housed, 
roughly clothed, and poorly fed from generation to generation. Some of 
the inertness of the people may be charged to the extreme heat .of the 
summers ; but from whatever cause, their slow progress makes a sad 



754 The International Geography 

contrast to the rapid emergence from frontier conditions in such States as 
Wisconsin and Iowa. Amid rural surroundings so deplorable, it is natural 
that the urban population should grow slowly, and that manufacturing and 
mercantile activity should be at the lowest ebb. Helena on the Mississippi 
and Little Rock on the Arkansas, the chief cities of the district, are only of 
local importance. 

The Red River Rafts. — Southern Arkansas is overlapped by the 
coastal plain which continues through Louisiana to the shore of the Gulf 
of Mexico, repeating many of the conditions already described for the 
region east of the Mississippi. Much of the surface is still forested, 
and the population is almost entirely rural and agricultural. The flood 
plain of the Red River deserves mention among the physical features on 
account of the famous "rafts" by which the river channel through it has 
been encumbered for distances of twenty or more miles. The rafts are 
formed by the accumulation of tree trunks that have been swept in time 
of flood from the forested flood plain further up the valley. The older • 
trunks rot. away at the lower end of the raft, while new ones gather at the 
upper end ; thus the raft slowly moves up stream. In recent years a 
navigable channel has been opened through the raft above Shreveport, 
and kept clear by patrolling " snag-boats." Appropriate to the slow pro- 
gress of the region, river transportation has not been so generally super- 
ceded by the railroads here as in the north. Partly on account of the 
obstruction of the river current by the raft, partly on account of the large 
amount of sediment brought down from the upper waters in the Llano 
Estacado of Texas, the flood plain of the Red River is rapidly aggrading 
or building up the valley floor. The side streams in Louisiana, unable to 
aggrade their valleys at the same rapid rate, expand on approaching the 
main valley, and thus form a number of lakes of unusual origin. The 
coastal prairie offers little temptation to settlement. Its surface is so low, 
flat, and marshy as. generally to be unfit for cultivation ; its shore possesses 
no good harbours, and is subject to storm floods from the sea. 

The Coastal Plain of Texas. — The Southern Coastal Plain extends 
south-westward into Texas. Its shore line, sweeps in a long concave curve 
from the fingered delta of the Mississippi to the rounded delta of the Rio 
Grande. For nearly all this distance the low margin of the plain is 
bordered by off-shore sand-reefs, built by wave action in the shallow waters 
of the Gulf. The reefs are of extraordinary continuity, by reason of the 
weakness of the tides. Padre Island, the reef that extends northward from 
the Rio Grande delta, measures nearly a hundred miles without a break, 
and in this respect is strikingly unlike the broken reefs and sea islands of 
South Carolina, where the much stronger tides maintain many openings 
leading from the mainland to the sea. Texas is so poorly provided with 
harbours that its chief port, Galveston, is situated on one of the off-shore 
sand reefs, where it was devastated by a hurricane and simultaneous sea- 
flood in 1900. The other ports are on shallow bays (valleys in the 



The United States 755 

coastal plain, slightly drowned), accessible only to vessels of moderate 
draught through narrow inlets of the sand-reef. 

The coastal prairie is treeless except along the watercourses ; it forms a 
vast grazing country. Further inland, the surface rises slowly, is dissected 
into a hilly expression, and is more generally wooded. Then follows the 
black prairie of smoother surface and more fertile soil, a great cotton district, 
like that enclosed by the Chunnenugga Ridge of Alabama. Here are the 
chief interior cities, including Austin, the capital. Finally, the long slope 
of the Grand Prairie, a Cretaceous cuesta of large dimensions, ascends to 
uplands of considerable altitude before descending by a ragged escarp- 
ment to the " central denuded region," a farming district of ancient rocks 
and diversified structure, form, and resources. The Cretaceous cuesta is 
traversed by valleys that lead rivers outward from the interior denuded 
region ; but between the valleys its upland surface is relatively continuous, 
a great uniform expanse. Here already the rainfall is becoming deficient, 
foreshadowing the aridity of western Texas. The " Northers " of the 
Texas coast are winds that sweep down from the Great Plains, when a 
cyclonic area lies on the Gulf : in winter they are cold waves. 

THE GREAT PLAINS 

The Great Plains. — A vast sub-arid region, extending from the 
trans-Mississippi tier of States to the base of the Rocky Mountains, is 
known as the Great Plains. The eastern boundary of this division is 
indefinite ; the dry plains merge into the more fertile prairies in the 
eastern part of the second tier of States west of the Mississippi. The 
plains are more varied in form than the name implies, and are indeed hilly 
enough over large districts to be called rugged. Even where most nearly 
level, they generally roll in broad swells, whose variation of height is 
frequently to be measured in scores of feet. Moreover, most of the rivers 
of the plains have incised their valleys to depths of fifties or hundreds of 
feet below the interstream surfaces ; and the branch streams, gnawing 
headwards, produce a broken country on either side of the main valleys 
that is anything but plain. A dry climate excludes growth of trees, 
except along the streams, or on the higher hills and escarpments ; and the 
name of the region is more an expression of the almost boundless view 
disclosed from every eminence than an indication of its precise form. 

The dryness of the plains predestines them to a small population. To- 
day, with the advantages of many railroads, the traveller is impressed with 
the great amount of unoccupied space. Yet from this vast region, once 
deemed almost a desert, cattle are now shipped in great numbers to the 
more eastern cities, although they require a much greater grazing area than 
on the prairies. The Coteau of the Missouri in North and South Dakota, 
where the Great Plains enter the United States from Canada, is a broad 
upland, that descends with some approach to abruptness on its eastern side 



756 The International Geography 

into the lower ground drained by James River : it is the topographical 
expression of a series of Cretaceous strata which extend far west and south 
under the plains, and which here crop out to the eastward ; it may be 
taken as marking the transition from the moister climate and more plen- 
tiful grass covering of the prairies further east, and the dryer climate and 
scanty grass covering further west. The upland is belted over with many 
moraines of rolling, hummocky, boulder-strewn surface, not high enough 
to be formidable, but uneven enough to be fatiguing to the drover, 
teamster, or horseman, and too stony to yield easily to the plough. In the 
absence of landmarks, one may easily be lost among the morainic hills 
and hollows. The abandoned channels of large glacial rivers are charac- 
teristic features of the drift-covered uplands ; one may sometimes ascend 
the gentle grade of their broad floor between well-marked banks, and at 
last emerge on the top of a morainic belt, with a broad stretch of lower 
ground beyond ; here the channel heads against the air, and here the 
source of its extinct river in the edge of the ice sheet must be inferred. 
The blizzard finds its best development on the broad Coteau. It is a 
violent cold-wave wind, at a temperature near zero F. or lower, drifting 
clouds of fine snow by which all landmarks are hidden. A guide of rope 
is needed in going a few hundred feet from a house to a barn in one of 
these freezing, blinding storms. Travellers on "foot should be roped 
together, as if climbing Alpine peaks. 

Beyond the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains in Montana, there is a 
great space of comparatively even plains, interrupted only by occasional 
eminences and by the sharply incised valleys of the larger rivers and their 
short branches. The eminences are of various types. The Little Rocky 
Mountains, near the Canadian boundary, are local upheavals of the under- 
lying strata in a dome-like structure, now much denuded. The Bear Paw 
Mountains, also far north, are a group of peaks formed by the dissection of 
an ancient volcano. The High wood and the Crazy Mountains, between 
the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, owe their altitude to the network of 
igneous dykes and stocks which have locally indurated the enclosing 
strata. Various ridges, buttes, and mesas are the consequence of the 
better resistance to erosion of dykes and lava sheets, than of the weak 
strata of the plains. Taken altogether, these embossed forms prove that 
the surrounding plain is not smooth because it retains the form of the sea 
floor in which its strata were laid down (like the coastal prairies of Texas), 
but because it has been well worn down from whatever initial upper 
surface it once possessed. It is a true plain of denudation, with the rem- 
nant hills and mountains here and there to serve, like once overwhelmed 
nilometers, as minimum measures of the height to which the entire 
surface once rose. As a plain of denudation, the region must have been 
worn down so low that the rivers wandered idly upon its surface. The 
sharply intrenched valleys of to-day prove that the denuded plains have 
been broadly uplifted, with an inclination eastward, and this only long 



The United States 757 



enough ago to allow vigorous rivers to erode narrow valleys. There are 
few better examples of composite topography than this. 

Hills of the Great Plains. — The hills and mountains that rise over 
the plains bear trees on their upper slopes. The plains are absolutely 
treeless, but offer good grazing ranges, and are now stocked with 
wandering herds of cattle. Although the winters are cold, the snowfall is 
very light ; the cattle are left unsheltered on the open ranges all the year 
round, to get along as well as they can ; they generally endure their winter 
privations, but severe losses occur during blizzards. Sheep cannot survive 
without protection and food. There is a tendency among the ranchmen to 
carry the name of " Prairie " far west to the thinly grassed upland plains, 
but thus used, the word is a deceptive misnomer. The uplands are out of 
reach of irrigation, but the valley floors, half a mile or more in width, are 
often watered by canals from the rivers : here cultivated fields produce 
good harvests. All the settlements are on the rivers : Bismarck, where the 
Northern Pacific railroad crosses the Missouri, Fort Benton, an early 
military station at the head of navigation of the Missouri, and Great Falls, 
where the revived river has developed a number of cataracts on a series of 
resistant sandstone layers, are examples ; the latter uses its water power in 
various industrial works, as well as in driving street cars and in furnishing 
electric light. The homes of the cattlemen are likewise in the valleys, out 
of sight of one another and widely separated by the unoccupied plains. 
Important Indian reservations lie near the mountains, where the Red Man 
still remains in large numbers. The denuded plains extend along the 
Rocky Mountain border far south into Colorado, repeating the features 
above described except that the residual hills are comparatively rare. 
Here the upland surface is often strewn over with sheets of river- washed 
gravels, derived from the mountains, and of practical importance as water- 
bearing deposits. As in Montana, the rivers are now intrenched in valleys 
beneath the upland surface. 

The Black Hills, in South Dakota and Wyoming, occupy an oval 
upheaved area, measuring about a hundred miles in its longer north 
and south diameter (BH in Fig 353). It is a dome-like mountain uplift 
on a scale intermediate between that of the Little Rocky Mountains of 
eastern Montana and of various members of the Rocky Mountains proper. 
Although the covering strata of the dome-like uplift have been greatly 
denuded, the hills surmount the plains by one or two thousand feet, and thus 
induce a local increase of rainfall. The Black Hills are, therefore, well 
forested, and their dark appearance, when seen in the distance, has given 
them their name. They supply much lumber to the ranches on the sur- 
rounding plains. The denudation of the originally arching strata has worn 
them back to concentric rimming ridges, and has revealed their foundation 
rocks of very ancient origin : and as these bear gold and silver, mining has 
come to be an important industry in the hills. Two railways have pushed 
their lines from the prairie States across the eastern plains to the Black 



758 The International Geography 

Hills, and now compete for freights from the mines as well as from the 
cattle ranges on the way. Here, as so often elsewhere, strong buttes 
mark the site of heavy " necks " of volcanic rocks and testify to the great 
and general denudation that the hills and plains have suffered. Mato 
Teepee, north-west of the hills, is the most remarkable of these forms, a 
great bare rock-shaft of columnar structure, six hundred feet in height, 
without a rival in the world. 

The Bad Lands — the mauvaises terres four traverser of the early 
French voyageurs — are named from their excessively rough and barren 
surface, the result of minute and detailed dissection by wet-weather 
streams. They are found in many parts of the western arid country, 
nowhere in better or greater development than along the branches of the 
Missouri north and south of the Black Hills. The fine-textured strata 
thus carved are in many cases of lacustrine or fluviatile origin and of 
Tertiary age ; the result of accumulation in broad basins formed by slight 
warpings of the Great Plains. A wonderful series of mammalian fossils 
has been entombed in them. The dry climate of the plains allows only a 
scanty covering of vegetation ; the fine texture and imperfect consolidation 
of the lacustrine strata promotes their denudation. Similar strata in a 
moister climate would be so well covered by vegetation that little work 
would be done by small streams and rills ; most of the waste would wash 
evenly from the slopes to the larger valleys, or would creep slowly down 
hill in soil-cap motion, and the forms of the surface would be smoothly 
rounded. It is curious to note that in such cases, the vegetation sup- 
ported under the greater rainfall largely counteracts the work that the 
rainfall would do alone ; it is in dry regions that the direct work of small 
streams is best displayed, even though their action is intermittent. 

The Sand Hills. — North of the Platte River a large extent of the 
Great Plains in Nebraska is occupied by low sand hills, or dunes, heaped by 
the wind from incoherent sandy strata. There is a scanty growth of grass 
in the hollows between the hills, and here, as well as elsewhere on the 
plains, great herds of buffalo wandered in the first half of the nineteenth 
century. But explorers and emigrants Looked on the region as a desert, 
for it gave them little support during the slow progress of their waggons 
or " prairie schooners " across its monotonous waste. Yet to-day a railroad 
traverses this "desert" on its way to the Black Hills, and carries many 
cattle from ranches among the sand hills to eastern markets. 

The loose texture of the strata of the plains exert an influence on the 
behaviour of its rivers as well as on the form of its bad lands and its sand 
hills. The rivers are so abundantly supplied with the waste of the land 
that they need a relatively strong slope on which to gain a velocity that 
will enable them to wash along their load. Hence, in spite of the con- 
siderable altitude of the plains — 3,000 or 4,000 feet over vast areas — the 
valleys are of moderate depth, and the local relief is, therefore, less than it 
would be if the strata were more thoroughly indurated, and the valleys 



The United States 759 

more deeply cut. The Platte illustrates this principle in a striking manner, 
for its broad channel is little sunk below the adjoining plains. Its visible 
volume decreases by sinking underground from a good supply near the 
mountains to a comparatively slender stream wandering on a broad bed 
of sands in the sand-hill region. Only in occasional floods is the channel 
filled from bank to bank. 

The Plains of Kansas ascend westward in a series of broad benches 
that are separated by east-facing bluffs of moderate height and ragged 
outline. These are similar to the belted uplands or cuestas of southern 
Missouri : each bench is underlain by a relatively resistant stratum, whose 
outcrop forms its limiting escarpment. The flood-plained valleys of the 
larger streams have little relation to the cuestas, but traverses them 
irregularly. While the eastern part of this region generally has a sufficient 
rainfall, the western part of Kansas reaches an arid region whose settle- 
ment has been attended by much misfortune. The practice of borrowing 
money with which to stock a new farm was here organised by loan 
companies; and it happened that between 1880 and 1890, when this 
business was at its height, the rainfall on the Great Plains was heavier 
than usual, and for a time all went well. Many enthusiasts believed that 
the climate had been favourably changed by the cultivation of the ground. 
Then in one of the times of decreasing rainfall, common to all semi-arid 
regions, crops failed, the disappointed settlers left their farms, and the 
eastern investor found himself the owner of a distant patch of worthless 
ground on the boundless plains. The legitimate use of borrowed capital 
in eastern Kansas and Nebraska, as well as on the prairies, has been 
beneficial both to borrowers and lenders in many cases where the farms 
were favourably situated, but the plains are still desolate ; little settlements 
here and there in the valleys only emphasise the emptiness of the uplands. 

Omaha, in Nebraska, and Kansas City, on the border of Missouri and 
Kansas, both on the Missouri river, are the chief cities of the western 
prairies, near the eastern borders of the plains. They have grown rapidly 
during the latter decades of the century, with the extension of railroads 
across the plains and the growth of cattle ranching. They are rivals as 
railroad centres and as cattle markets. 

The Llano Estacado. — The Ouachita mountain range of middle 
Arkansas extends westward into Indian Territory and Oklahoma, interrupt- 
ing the plains for several hundred miles, but disappearing beneath them 
before reaching the Rocky Mountains. This region is not yet well 
studied owing to its having been long set apart as a home for various 
tribes of Indians when they were removed from their original homes. It 
is followed on the south-west by the Llano Estacado, an even-topped 
plateau in northern Texas, confluent with the Great Plains in the north- 
west, gnawed on the north-east, east, and south by the head waters of 
many rivers that flow to the Mississippi and the Gulf, and divided from 
the mountains on the west by the valley of Pecos river. As a source of 



760 The International Geography- 
sediment for fertile flood plains in a moister climate near the coast, the 
Llano is well placed ; but its upland surface is too arid for profitable 
occupation, unless by wandering herds, and for these the scarcity of water 
is a formidable difficulty. In summer the plateau is intensely hot by day, 
and it is probably from this region and its fellows beyond the Mexican 
boundary that the "hot-winds" of Kansas and Nebraska are derived". 
These south-west' winds are veritable scourges, for with a temperature of 
95 or more and an extremely low humidity, they blight the fields over 
which they pass. They frequently affect narrow belts in the direction of 
their progress, as if their excessive heat was limited to a small current in 
the general movement of the winds. Fortunately they are of rare 
occurrence in their greater severity. It has been suggested that, like 
similar winds observed in northern India, the high temperature of these 
fiery blasts is immediately derived from compression during their descent 
from a considerable altitude ; but it is manifest that they must have been 
previously heated when near the ground. 

Denver is the only important city on the Great Plains. Thirty years ago 
it was reached only by stage-coach ; now it is the focus of many railroads, 
some coming from the Mississippi valley, others entering the Rocky 
Mountains which rise a dozen miles away. There was originally nothing 
in the immediate surroundings of Denver to give it eminence over a score 
of other frontier settlements. It is built on Cherry Creek, which, like 
many another stream in the dry country, is a bed of sand and gravel during 
much of the year, but which occasionally rises in furious floods from 
cloud-burst rains. The neighbouring plains for a hundred miles are 
occupied partly as cattle ranges, partly as irrigated farms. The mountains 
beyond have mining towns here and there. The successful growth of 
Denver depends partly on the long distance by which the Rocky Mountains 
are separated from the cities of the Mississippi valley, partly on the 
contrast between the Plains and the Mountains ; for even in the days of 
railroads, centres of trade must not be too far from their constituents. 

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 

The Rocky Mountains. — The Great Plains are terminated abruptly 
on the west by the front range of the Rocky Mountains, which rises from a 
base of 4,000 or 6,000 feet to summits of 10,000 or 14,000 feet. Many other 
ranges of similar height fellow further west ; each has its local name, as 
the Teton Range in Wyoming, south of the Yellowstone Park, one of the 
grandest mountain groups in the west ; the Sawatch Range beyond the 
upper waters of the Arkansas in Colorado, with its chief peaks, Harvard, 
Yale, and Princeton, named after eastern colleges ; the Uinta Range in 
Utah, exceptional in having an east and west trend nearly at right angles 
to its fellows ; the Wahsatch Range in Utah, overlooking the arid basin 
of Great Salt Lake on the west. Although often of bold and vigorous 



The United States 761 



form, " needles " and " horns " are comparatively rare. Talus-covered 
flanks of uniform slope are extensively developed. The upper slopes 
stand high above the tree line, yet they gather only small snowfields and 
bear no glaciers except in northern Montana. The moraines of extinct 
glaciers are, however, abundant in many valleys. The middle and lower 
slopes are generally forested, except in the far south. 

Geology of the Rocky Mountains. — The geological series in 
the mountain ranges extends from the ancient crystalline rocks through 
the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic to the early Tertiaries. Well-defined 
Devonian horizons usually have small thickness. The Carboniferous is 
a heavy marine limestone with no trace of coal. Workable beds of coal, 
chiefly lignite, occur in the upper Cretaceous and lower Tertiary. The 
long maintained conformability of the .rock series, sometimes without a 
break from Cambrian to Cretaceous, gives an interesting contradiction 
to the early doctrine that a great break is always to be found between the 
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. The prevailing absence of metamorphosed sedi- 
ments is a notable peculiarity. Igneous rocks are common in the form 
of intrusive sills and laccoliths, and in the Yellowstone region there are 
extrusive flows and agglomerates of great thickness and extent. . 

The structure of many ranges is anticlinal. The axis of the front range, 
south of the Missouri, is largely composed of granite, from which the 
bedded formations dip away with much regularity on either flank. The 
Uinta Range is still arched over by Carboniferous strata for much of its 
length. The Wahsatch is peculiar in being of synclinal structure, with an 
east to west axis at right angles to the range, and broken across by a great 
fracture that marks the eastern border of the Great Basin and exposes a 
vast natural section on the western slope of the mountains. North of the 
Missouri river, and extending into Canada, the front range also assumes a 
synclinal structure, with a great overthrust fault near its eastern base : 
here the lower Palaeozoic formations are extremely heavy, while further 
south, where the anticlinal structure prevails, they are comparatively thin. 
Massive laccoliths form the resistant centres of some mountain groups in 
western Colorado ; .they are greatly denuded and elaborately carved, 
forming some of the most picturesque scenery of the region. 

On passing from the modern, undisturbed strata of the Great Plains to 
the ancient, disordered structures of the Rocky Mountains, the pastoral 
industries of the one region give place to the mining industries of 
the other. Important deposits of gold, silver and copper have been 
profitably worked at Cripple Creek, Leadville and Butte ; hundreds of less 
valuable deposits have led to moderate returns or to unknown losses ; 
countless " prospects " have been tested by pick and shovel in all parts of 
the mountains, high and low. Modern methods of drilling rocks and 
treating ore are so rapid that already many mining districts are nearly or 
quite worked out ; their excitable population, with the feverish accom- 
paniments of saloons and gambling houses, have moved away to some 



762 The International Geography- 
newer "camp." In spite of the scant half century of exploitation, deserted 
villages are no rarities. 

Intermont Basins. — Many basins are found among the mountains, 
where broad surfaces of moderate relief attract the ranchman to raise 
cattle and wheat. Here railroads make their way between the ranges, and 
permanent settlements spring up. To this steadier class of population, as 
well as to the speculative and excitable miner, the future welfare of the 
region will be due. The basins are in all cases due to a deformation or 
warping of the mountain structure ; they serve as gathering grounds for 
the rock-waste swept down from many centripetal valleys : deposits of 
gravel and sand a thousand feet or more thick having been formed in this 
way. The outflowing river of each basin escapes through the enclosing 
range in a gorge or canyon, usually so narrow and steep-sided as to be 
useless for roads, and passable only with great difficulty by railroads. In 
many cases the river has worn its canyon so deep that the floor of the 
basin is now dissected into bench land and flood plain : the latter is 
irrigable and serves for wheat land, the former is dry and serves only for 
pasture. In some cases the strata of the older basins, tilted by later 
disturbances and now more or less denuded, form low ridges lateral to 
the ranges that once supplied their sediments. 

The intermont basins present at first sight every appearance of having 
been formerly occupied by lakes. In some cases the appearance is con- 
firmed by the occurrence of fine silts appropriate to lacustrine conditions 
of deposition ; but it often happens that layers of coarse texture and 
irregular stratification form a large part of the basin deposits, and hence it 
must be concluded that in such cases the warping of the basin did not 
proceed much faster than the filling of its floor and the cutting of its 
outlet, and that the deposits are fluviatile and not lacustrine. This con- 
clusion is particularly fitting for those basins in which the floor is not 
level, but inclines from the margins to 'the river of discharge, after the 
fashion of piedmont slopes of mountain waste, the world over. Even if 
lakes were formed at brief times of more rapid warping, their depth was 
probably small and their duration short.. 

The San Luis Valley, an oval depression about sixty miles long, 
between two ranges in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, 
is.a good example of an intermont basin. The surface round the margin 
has a gentle slope towards the centre, and here the deposits are stony 
and gravelly ; here the streams run out from the mountains in good 
volume. The central area is "as flat as a billiard table"; here the 
materials are sands and silts, and here the smaller streams wither away 
in the dry air. The stronger streams unite 10 form the Rio Grande, which 
makes its exit southward by a dark gorge through the mountains. Here, 
as in New Mexico generally, there are many traces of Mexican occupation 
in names and people. The Big Horn Basin, enclosed by a range and 
drained by a river of the same name in Wyoming, once resembled the 



The United States 763 

San Luis Valley in having a smooth floor, but now it is dissected to a depth 
of two or three hundred feet by the centripetal and the exit streams. The 
Green River Basin, in western Wyoming, drained by the Green river in a 
deep canyon through the Uinta Range, is now dissected so as to convert 
its once even floor into a labyrinth of bad lands, with local reliefs up 
to a thousand feet. The "Parks" that occur west of the front range in 
Colorado are intermont basins of greater height than usual — 6,000 or 7,000 
feet — with rainfall enough to support here and there a park-like growth of 
pine trees. 

The Yellowstone Park. — An extensive intermont basin in north- 
western Wyoming has a plateau-like surface, built up by heavy lava beds ; 
the numerous geysers which occur in it have led to the reservation of the 
region as the Yellowstone National Park. There are picturesque mountains 
bordering the basin ; a few dissected volcanoes, like Mount Washburn, 
surmount the lava beds ; but as a whole the scenery is relatively mono- 
tonous. The broad plateau is clothed with a pine forest through which 
the stage roads wind from one group of geysers to another. The geysers 
are associated with hot springs, around which siliceous deposits of great 
beauty have been formed. Yellowstone lake and Yellowstone canyon are 
grateful variations from the sameness of the forested lava plateau. This 
"park," which is nearly as large as Yorkshire, will always be preserved in 
a state of nature and serve as a refuge for native animals. 

The Colorado Plateaux.— South of the Uinta Range in Utah, New 
Mexico, and Arizona, there is an extensive region of great altitude (over 
6,000 feet) that is traversed by the Colorado river and its few branches in 
deep canyons. A heavy series of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic strata, lying 
nearly horizontal, has been greatly denuded, so that the stronger 
layers now form great platforms ending in rugged cliffs and escarpments, 
while the weaker layers are worn back until they are hidden under the 
talus of the cliffs. In the north-western part of this area, great fractures 
divide the country into blocks, ten or twenty miles wide ; and the adjacent 
blocks are moved unevenly, so that the edges of the higher blocks, now 
more or less battered by the weather, form cliffs one or two thousand feet 
high. Volcanic action has been plentiful. The deep-seated intrusions of 
cistern-like form, known as laccoliths, were first recognised in the Henry 
Mountains, a group of rugged forms in a greatly denuded region west of 
the Colorado river. Lofty volcanic cones, like San Francisco mountain, 
and extensive lava flows are scattered about near the Colorado canyon ; 
some of the former are more or less dissected by radial valleys, others are 
symmetrical cinder cones hardly affected by erosion ; some of the latter 
form mesas surmounting a more denuded surface, others are of modern 
date, still black and unweathered, occasionally forming stony cascades over 
the fault cliffs. This volcanic centre constitutes a striking exception to 
the rule that volcanic action is limited to continental margins and to the 
ocean floors. It is owing to a comparatively recent uplift of this denuded 



-764. The International Geography 

region, after the cliffed platforms had been carved, that the larger rivers 
have incised their extraordinary canyons, 3,000 to 5,000 feet in depth. 

The highest plateaux receive sufficient rainfall to be forested ; the less 
lofty uplands are barren deserts, unattractive to the ranchman or the 
miner, however wonderful to the geographer and geologist. Where the 
plateaux have been most vigorously dissected into a labyrinth of branching 
spurs, a few tribes of warlike Indians still remain unsubdued. Where 
isolated mesas offer natural protection, several tribes of gentler nature 
have made their homes. Shallow caves under overhanging cliffs contain 
the abandoned stone dwellings of a people who probably chose these 
singular sites for the safety that they gave from attack. A few settlers are 
found in valleys or basins where water can be had to irrigate their fields. 
Some lumbermen have attacked the forests on certain of the volcanoes near 
a railroad line that crosses the desolate plateaux. Government surveyors 
have traversed and studied the region, and it would almost seem that the 
greatest gain to be derived from this almost uninhabitable country will 
be its teachings as to the origin of land-forms by wholesale denudation. 

The Columbia Plateaux. — A great extent of country drained by the 
Columbia and Snake rivers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, is built up 
of vast lava sheets, which have converted a broad depression between the 
Rocky and the Cascade Mountains into an extensive plateau. The shore 
line of the lava flood may often be traced, entering the mountain valleys 
in level embayments, indented by the mountain spurs which advance into 
it like promontories. Isolated hills and mountains occasionally rise above 
the lava plain like outlying islands. The lava floods must have taken place 
at different dates ; tor while some are smooth, unweathered, and barren, 
as if very recent, others are more or less upheaved and dislocated, and 
dissected even by small streams. The Blue Mountains in south-eastern 
Washington are only an uplifted and deeply dissected part of the lava 
plateau ; here the canyon of Snake River has a depth of 4,000 feet with 
intricately carved walls. At certain points the stream has laid bare some of 
the underlying mountains ; one of these, composed of resistant quartzite, 
is cut down 2,500 feet by the river, although capped by 1,500 feet of 
bedded lavas. Elsewhere the dissection is of gentler nature ; from every 
interstream swell of the surface a vast expanse of treeless undulations 
stretches away to a horizon almost as level as that of the sea. Gray sage 
brush is found everywhere ; scattered tufts of grass suffice for ranging 
horses and cattle. Near the Rocky Mountains, where the rainfall is some- 
what greater than over the centre of the plateau, there is a plentiful soil on 
the uplands, partly supplied by local weathering, partly wind-borne from 
further west ; here is one of the newer wheat districts of the great interior 
country. Although the land is not at first sight inviting to the farmer, it 
repays his labour abundantly without the need of irrigation. Spokane, 
where two transcontinental railway lines come together, is the growing 
metropolis of this region. 



The United States 765 

One of the most remarkable features of the lava plateau is the former 
path of the Columbia river, known as the "Grand Coulee," carved when 
its northern detour was obstructed by ice streams that descended from the 
mountains on the north and west in the glacial period. Although now 
nearly dry, the Grand Coulee may be traced for over a hundred miles across 
the plateau ; here narrow and deep-cut in the uplifted lava beds, there 
broader and shallower in a lower upland ; generally with an even floor , 
but at one place broken by the cliffs of a former cataract that must havi; 
greatly exceeded Niagara in height, breadth and variety of form. Th<; 
pools that were excavated by the plunge of the extinct cataract contain 
clear blue lakes, but the cliffs are dry and bare. 

The Basin Ranges. — West of the Wahsatch Range and the Colorado 
plateaux, south of the Columbia plateaux, and east and south of the Sierra 
Nevada, there is an arid region embracing all of Nevada, part of Utah and 
Arizona and the south-eastern corner of California, and extending into 
Mexico. Only one important river, the Colorado, reaches the sea from 
this desert empire. Nearly all the scanty rainfall dries away in the 
dessicating atmosphere. The region is diversified by many independent 
mountain ranges of north and south trend and of varied structure. Some 
bear trees on their upper slopes ; others are barren to their crests. In the 
north-west, adjoining the lava plains of Oregon, some of the ridges are 
notable for the very recent date of their uplift, their form being as yet 
hardly modified by erosion from the original shape of their tilted blocks. 
In the middle of the region the ridges are elaborately carved by valleys 
and branch valleys. In the south-west some of the ridges appear to be 
nearly worn away, only low residual knobs remaining. 

The confluent depressions between the isolated ranges are floored with 
long piedmont slopes of stony and gravelly waste that has been washed 
from the mountain valleys. Two approaching slopes unite in forming an 
intermont trough whose floor may stand at altitudes of 4,000 or 6,000 feet 
in Utah and northern Nevada, thus rivalling the height of many plateaux ; 
yet it differs from a typical plateau in the prevailing absence of valleys, 
for the waste slopes are built up by the streams that issue heavily charged 
with detritus from the mountain gorges. Thus the depressions are filling 
up while the mountains are wearing down. In the south-west the floor of 
the depressions is of moderate altitude ; indeed, in south-eastern California 
the arid floor of the Coahuila desert descends 300 feet beneath sea-level. 
This depression represents the head of the Gulf of California, now isolated 
by the delta of the Colorado and evaporated to dryness. An outflowing 
branch or distributary of the Colorado occasionally turns northwards on 
the delta at times of high water, and flows into the desert basin, forming a 
short-lived lake. In south-western Arizona some of the gently inclined 
piedmont slopes are rock-floored, bearing only a thin veneer of waste here 
and there ; the streams, issuing from the mountains after a shower, find no 
channels, but spread out in a sheet a mile or more broad and one or 



766 The International Geography 



two feet deep, washing the gravel veneers forward down the inclined 
rock floor ; this peculiar style of drainage has been termed a " sheet 
flood." 

Nearly all the streams from the mountains wither away on the dreary 
piedmont waste slopes. Sage brush is the prevailing vegetation ; spiny 
yuccas and thorny cactus occur in the arid and warm south-west. The 
larger streams unite to form shallow salt lakes in the lowest part of the 
intermont troughs. Others form shallow water sheets, a few inches deep, 
in the wet season, where smooth plains of barren sun-baked mud, or 
" playas," remain in the dry months. There are few parts of the country 
less inviting to settlement than the region of the Basin Ranges, yet here, 
as on the Colorado plateaux, the scientific explorer has reaped a rich 
harvest. Comparable with the record of a past glacial climate in the 
region of the Laurentian lakes is the record of a past humid climate in the 
arid basins of Utah and Nevada. The basin of Great Salt Lake in Utah 

and that of several indepen- 
dent lakes in north-western 
Nevada each formerly held 
large lakes that rose nearly a 
thousand feet on the adjoining 
mountain flanks, and there 
marked their shore lines in 
cliffs, bars and deltas. The 
records have been deciphered 
and are elaborately described 
in monographs of the United 
States Geological Survey. No 
other ancient lake basins have 
been so well studied. 

People and Towns of 
the Basin Ranges. — The 
settlements of the Basin Range region may be grouped under three classes : 
the Mormons originally about Salt Lake in Utah, the mining towns in the 
mountains, and scattered ranches of Mormons and Gentiles, where streams 
can be used for irrigation. The Mormons exhibit in their polygamous 
and superstitious creed an example of religious atavism. Their converts 
have been gathered from the eastern United States and from western 
Europe. Their history includes many deeds of violence and cruelty, yet 
much may be said in their favour. Their settlements in Utah were estab- 
lished half a century ago without the intemperance of every kind that has 
characterised the frontier towns of those who would in a census be classed 
as "Christians." Their desert home has been transformed into a productive 
farming country by persevering industry and thrift. Polygamy, now for- 
mally abandoned, was never practised by more than 4 per cent, of the mar- 
riageable men j the Mormons should be classed as merely one more of the 




FiG. 366. — The Ancient Beds of Lake Bonneville 
(in Utah) and Lake Lahontan (in Nevada). The 
Map measures 550 by 420 miles. 



The United States 767 

many superstitious sects of the so-called civilised nations. Salt Lake City 
on the shore of the lake is the centre of Mormon activity. 

The most famous mining town of the Basin Ranges is Virginia City in 
north-western Nevada. Many millions of gold and silver have been taken 
from the Comstock Lode, above which the city was built, and many other 
millions have been spent in efforts to prolong the life of the mines there 
opened. The discovery of the lode about i860, at a time when the yield 
of gold in California was decreasing, caused the greatest "rush" known in 
the history of western mining. Thousands of persons hurried over the 
Sierra Nevada, in the hope of locating a paying claim ; other thousands 
followed to open saloons, gambling resorts, and " opera houses," and thus, 
like parasites, to live upon the miners. The rapid growth of Virginia City 
and a few other mining " camps " was the excuse for the admission of 
Nevada as a State in 1864 ; a most unfortunate political necessity, for in 
spite of its enormous area, exceeding that of many eastern States com- 
bined, its population has fallen under 50,000, less than that of many cities 
of the second class. Virginia City is now reduced to a mere shadow of its 
short-lived greatness. The population of the State must always be scanty, 
scattered, and isolated. 

THE PACIFIC SLOPE 

The Pacific Ranges, broadly separated from the Rocky Mountains, 
include the lofty Sierra Nevada of California, the Cascade Mountains of 
Oregon and Washington, and several smaller coast ranges. The highest 
summits are in the granitic southern part of the Sierra Nevada, where 
Mount Whitney nearly reaches 15,000 feet. The Sierra is precipitous on 
the east, descending abruptly into the BaSin Range region and shedding 
great slopes of stony waste, varied about Mono lake by superb moraines of 
extinct glaciers. The descent on the west is much more gradual ; here many 
of the interstream highlands have the appearance of somewhat uneven 
inclined planes, separated by deep-cut canyons. All these features suggest 
that the range as a whole may be regarded as a huge block, uplifted on 
the east long enough ago to be deeply scored by the streams from its crest. 
Among the valleys the Yo-Semite is phenomenally deep, with precipitous 
walls of granite. The Hetch-hetchy valley is of similar form, but of 
smaller dimensions, a little further north. The range is crossed only by 
Pitt river, which rises on the western part of the Columbia plateau, 
trenches through the range and joins the Sacramento system. Great flows 
of lava and sheets of volcanic conglomerates lie on the western slope of 
the range about its middle, the date of their eruption being earlier than 
that of the valley cutting. Further north volcanic cones and recent lava 
flows become more abundant. 

The higher summits of the Cascade Range are all volcanic cones, more 
or less dissected by radiating valleys, the chief being Mounts Rainier, St. 
Helens, and Hood. They bear heavy snowfields and glaciers. Mount 



768 The International Geography 

Shasta, in northern California, is an isolated volcano, west of the higher 
ranges, one of the most symmetrical and least dissected of the larger cones. 
Crater lake in southern Oregon occupies a huge caldera ; once a lofty cone, 
furrowed by radial valleys, the upper part has been removed by engulf- 
ment, leaving a great cavity, with precipitous inner walls, four miles in 
diameter and one mile deep. The lost summit of the cone has been chris- 
tened Mount Mazarha by a club of mountain climbers of that name, who 
have done much to make the caldera better known. The Columbia and 
Klamath rivers break through the mountains in deep gorges on their way 
from the lava plateaux to the sea. 

The Coast Ranges are of moderate altitude, well dissected by numerous 
valleys, and frequently descending directly to the ocean shore in pre- 
cipitous cliffs and headlands. Many signs of change of level are found 
in raised beaches and submerged valleys ; but owing to the general 
parallelism of the ridges and the coast line, and to the absence of recent 
strong depression, the shore has few strong re-entrants. The range is not 
rich in metalliferous deposits, save at New Almaden, where there has been 
a large yield of mercury. 

The broad troughs between the Coast Ranges and the higher moun- 
tains further inland are floored with waste from the mountain valleys. In 
California the waste-strewn floor makes a plain of great extent, the flat 
fans of detritus that are spread out before every mountain valley being 
admirably adapted to the distribution of water by irrigating canals. The 
intermont trough is much less distinctly developed on the path of the 
Klamath river, where the adjacent ranges approach one another in a node 
of irregular relief. Further north it reappears, and is partly occupied by 
the branching waters of Puget Sound. Here recent studies lead to the 
conclusion that the waste-built lowlands adjoining the sound are glacial or 
aqueo-glacial deposits, while the trunk and branches of the sound are the 
spaces once occupied by many confluent ice streams that came down from 
the mountains in the glacial period. The many degrees of latitude that are 
traversed in passing along the Pacific slope from the desert lowlands 
between the Basin Ranges of south-eastern California over the great 
valley of California to the forested valley of Puget Sound, explain the 
climatic contrasts between the arid and humid extremes of this belt. They 
resemble each other only in their relatively small seasonal changes, one 
being persistently warm and dry, the other persistently cool and wet. 

People and Towns of the Pacific Coast.— The settlement of the 
Valley of California by Spanish Americans was well advanced before the 
discovery of gold caused the inrush of fortune-seekers from the eastern 
United States and Europe in 1849 and 1850. Spanish names still prepon- 
derate, as in Sacramento, the capital, San Francisco, the great Pacific port 
at the only break in the California coast range, Los Angelos and San Diego 
on the coast further south. The old Spanish mission churches are the only 
antiquities of the State having European associations. In those early days 



The United States 



7 b 9 



cattle raising on the great valley plain was the main industry, and hides 
were the chief article of export. With the acquisition of the territory by 
the United States and the incursion of gold seekers, a new order of things 
was inaugurated ; a rough and violent order at first when "vigilance com- 
mittees " put their prompt measures in the place of the slower procedure 
Of the law courts. 

The newcomers made their way thither by long voyages in sailing ships 
round Cape Horn, by shorter voyages with a land passage across the 
malarial isthmus of Darien, and by a difficult and dangerous overland 
journey in white-covered waggons or "prairie-schooners." The hardships 
of the overland passage across plains, mountains, and desert basins, are 
long to be remembered ; Indian ambuscade, thirst in the dry country, and 
cold storms in the Sierra overcame many a pioneer emigrant. The sur- 
vivors are justly proud of their record as " '49-ers." Gold was taken from 
quartz veins in the metamorphic rocks of the lower Sierras, and from 
" placers " or gravel deposits in the 
foot hills ; but in the ten years from 
1850 to i860 the great increase of 
population and the exhaustion of 
many mines and " diggings " turned 
attention to the fertility of the great 
valley plain, the cattle ranches were 
replaced by farms, and California 
became a great wheat-raising State. 
The second decade was marked by 
the construction of a trans-conti- 
nental railroad, completed in 1866, 
and California then ceased to be 
a distant part of the Union. In 
later years the number of railroads 
across the continent (Fig. 336) has increased to five — not counting the 
Canadian Pacific Railway — each line now being largely dependent 
on carrying cattle and farm products by the way, as well as on through 
passengers and freights. Beautiful winter resorts attract thousands of 
people to the tempered Pacific coast from the violent climate of the 
interior. The irrigated plains of southern California are now occupied by 
extensive vineyards and fruit ranches, from which eastern markets are 
largely supplied. At the same time the more northern railroads have pro- 
moted the growth of Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle on the harbours of the 
far north-west ; the great forests on the littoral slopes of Oregon and 
Washington are being sawed into lumber for the distant plains and 
prairies. The purchase of Alaska and more recently the discovery of the 
Klondike gold-field, has encouraged traffic along the north-western coast. 
Trans-Pacific commerce has in the meantime grown apace, and with it 
came an incursion of Chinamen, patient and industrious workers, living on 




The Site of San Francisco. 



770 The International Geography 

a fraction of what would be required for an ambitious American, not 
making the United States their home, but hoping to return to China alive 
or dead ; a useful element in a country where serfdom prevailed, but not 
desirable citizens for a free republic. The manifest lesson to be drawn 
from the great intelligence and prosperity of the people in the north- 
eastern quarter of the United States is that all immigrants must make this 
country a permanent home for themselves and their children ; that they 
must accept the rights and duties of citizenship as well as the responsi- 
bility of self-support and self -improvement ; and that from the unified 
mass thus formed no barrier of race, religion or foreign fealty shall 
obstruct the rise of leaders, to guide the people in the further develop- 
ment of the United States. 

Alaska. — The north-western extremity of North America, constituting 
the territory of Alaska, 580,000 square miles in area (about one-sixth of the 
area of United States) was bought from Russia for $7,200,000 in 1867. It 
has a small native population of various Indian tribes, and a growing white 
population bent on the development of its resources. The compact land 
body, approaching within 54 miles of Asia, and bounded on the east by the 
141st meridian, has an arm 500 miles long extending south-east along the 
coast, and including a narrow strip of mainland as well as the countless 
islands of the Alexander Archipelago. Sitka, the territorial capital, is 
situated on Baranof Island in this group. There is a second arm, 1,500 
miles in length, composed of the volcanic Aleutian Islands, looping across 
the northern Pacific from Alaska Peninsula towards Kamchatka. The 
coast line is extremely irregular on the south, measuring in total 18,000 
miles, or more than that of all the United States. 

The southern coast is bold and mountainous. Mount St. Elias, practi- 
cally on the frontier at the base of the south-eastern arm, rises higher 
than 18,000 feet. The heavy snowfall forms immense glaciers, descending 
to the sea, the largest being the Malaspina glacier, fed by snow-fields on 
the St. Elias range. Muir glacier, further south-east, is annually visited 
by many tourists. The temperature on the mountain flanks is moderate 
and equable, favouring the growth of heavy forests along the coast as far 
as Kadiac Island, at the base of the Aleutian chain. The interior is little 
known, except along the course of the Yukon, one of the great rivers of the 
world. Its climate is drier than on the coast, and the seasonal changes of 
temperature are greater ; extreme cold is felt in winter, and the ground is 
frozen to a depth estimated at 100 feet. Here the vegetation is chiefly a 
dense cover of moss. On the north coast, far within the Arctic circle, 
layers of ice are seen beneath the surface soil. 

The economic products of Alaska come at present chiefly from the seal 
fisheries of the Pribilof Islands (north of the Aleutian chain), and from the 
gold-fields of the Yukon valley and the coast of Bering Sea. The seals 
have been reduced from their originally countless numbers by too reck- 
less destruction, but if their capture is properly restricted they must 



The United States 



771 



yield a large revenue to the Government as well as a profit to the sealers 
for many years to come. Gold deposits of moderate value have been 
worked for about thirty years past at various points on the Alexander 
Archipelago. In the autumn of 1896 the Klondike field in the Canadian 
Yukon District was discovered, and when the news of its richness reached 
the United States in the following spring, there was a " rush " of would-be 
miners that recalls early Californian days. 

Alaska is of especial interest as the first outlying territorial addition to 
the United States. Its purchase provoked much criticism, and even 
ridicule, yet as a financial investment it has been profitable. Its adminis- 
tration has been thus far comparatively simple, for its population has been 
far too small for any question to arise as to its accession to Statehood. 
Quite different political problems must arise in the more populous detached 
territories in a genial climate which have recently been brought under the 
sway of the United States. 

STATISTICS. 



AREA AND POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida .. 



Georgia 

Idaho . . . . 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Indian Territory 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts . . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri.. 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New Mexico . . 

New York 

North Carolina 

North Dakota . . 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania . . 

Rhode Island . . 

South Carolina. . 



Area, 
sq. miles. 

52.250 

113,020 

53.850 

158.360 

103,925 

4.990 

2,360 

70 

58,680 

59.475 

81,800 

56,650 

36,350 

31,400 

56,025 

82,080 

40,400 

48,720 

33.040 

12,210 

8.315 

58,915 

83.365 

46,810 

69.4 r 5 

146,080 

77.5IO 

110,700 

9,305 

8,175 

122,580 

49,220 

52,250 

70,795 

41,000 

39,030 

96,030 

45,215 

1,250 

30,570 



1,262,505 

40,440 

802,525 

864,694 

194,327 

622,700 

146,608 

117,624 

269,493 

1,542,180 

32,610 

3,077,871 

1,978,301 

1,624,615 
990,096 

1,648,690 
939.946 
648,936 
934,943 

1,783,085 

1,636,937 
780,773 

1,131,597 

2,168,380 

39,159 

452,402 

62,266 

346,991 

1,131,116 
119,565 

5,082,871 

1,399,750 
135, i77 2 

3,198,062 

174,768 

4,282,891 

276,531 

995.577 



Population. 

1890. 

1,513.017 

59,620 

1,128,179 

1,208,130 

412,198 

746.258 

168,493 

230,392 

391,422 

1,837.353 

84.385 

3,826,351 

2,192,404 

1,911,896 
1,427,096 
1,858,635 
1,118,587 
661,086 
1,042,390 
2,238,943 
2,093,889 
1,301,826 
1,289,600 
2,679,184 

132,159 

1,058,910 

45.76I 1 

376,530 
1,444.933 

153.593 
5.997.853 
i.6i7,947 

182,719 

3,672,316 

61,834 

313,767 
5,258,014 

345.506 
1,151,149 



1900. 
1,828,697 

122,931 
1,311.564 
1,485.053 

539.700 

908,420 

184,735 

278,718 

528,542 
2,216,331 

161,772 
4,821,550 
2,516,462 

392,060 
2,231,853 
1.470,495 
2,147.174 
1,381,625 

694,466 
1,188,044 
2,805,346 
2,420,982 
1.75 1.394 
1,551.270 
3,106,665 

243.329 

1,066,300 

42,335 

4H,588 
1,883,669 

i95,3io 
7,268,894 
1,893,810 

319,146 
4,157,545 

398,331 

413.536 
6,302,115 

428,556 
1,340,316 



Date of 
Territory. 
1817 
1863 
1819 

1861 
Original 

1791" 

1822 

Original 

1863 

1809 



Admission. 
State. 
1819 Ala. 



1836 

1850 

1876 

State. 



1845 
State. 
1890 
1818 
1816 



1838 
1854 



1805 



1845 
1861 
1792 
1812 
1820 
Original State. 



1805 
1849 
1798 
1812 
1864 

1854 
1861 
Original 

1850" 
Original 

1861" 

1890 
1848 
Original 



1837 
1858 
1817 
1821 
1889 
1867 
1864 
State. 



State. 



1859 
State. 



Ariz 

Ark. 

Cal. 

Col. 

Conn. 

Del. 

DC. 

Fla. 

Ga. 

Id. 

111. 

Ind. 

I. T. 

Iowa. 

Kans. 

Ky. 

La. 

Me. 

Md. 

Mass. 

Mich. 

Minn. 

Miss. 

Mo. 

Mont. 

Nebr. 

Nev. 

N. H. 

N.J. 

N. M. 

n. y. 

N. C. 
N. Dak. 
O. 

Ok. T. 
Ore. 
Pa. 
R. I. 
S. C. 



* Decrease- 



2 Including South Dakota. 



772 The International Geography 



AREA AND POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES— (continued). 



Area. Population, 

sq. miles. 1880. 1890. 1900. 

South Dakota .. .. 77,650 See N. Dakota. 328,808 401,570 

Tennesoec . . . . 42,050 1,542,359 1,767,518 2,020,616 

Texas 265,780 1,591,749 2,235,523 3,048,710 

Utah 84,970 143,963 207,905 276,749 

Vermont 9,565 332,286 332,422 343,641 

Virginia 42.45° 1,512,565 1,655,980 1,854,184 

Washington .. .. 69,180 75,n6 349,390 518,103 

West Virginia .. .. 24,780 618,457 762,794 958,800 

Wisconsin . . . . 56,040 1, 315,497 1,686,880 2,069,042 

Wyoming .. .. 97,890 20,789 60,705 9 2 i53i 

United States .. 3,022,600 50,155,783 62,622,250 76,085,794 



Date of Admission. 



Territory 
1861 



1850 



State. 

1889 S. Dak 

1796 Tenn. 

1845 Tex. 

1896 U. 

1791 vt 

Original State. Va. 

1853 1889 W ash. 

— 1863 W. Va. 

1836 • 1848 Wis. 

1868 1890 Wy. 



POPULATION BY BIRTH. 



1890. 

909,092 

100,079 

242,231 

1,871,509 



England 

Wales. . 

Scotland 

Ireland 

United Kingdom 

Germany 

Canada and Newfoundland 

Sweden and Norway 800J706 

Russia and Poland 330,1 

Italy — 

Austria-Hungary 

China 

Other Foreign Countries 



1900. 

842,078 

93,682 

233,977 

1,618,567 



3,122,911 

2,784,894 

980,938 



303,812 
106,688 
8I9.5I4 



Total Foreign Born 9,249,547 



2,788,304 

2,666,990 

i,i8i-,255 

910,025 

807,606 

484,207 

579,042 

81,827 

857,388 



Coloured, Native Born 



7,470,040 



White, Native Born 45,902,663 

Total Population of United States (excluding Alaska) 62,622,250 

POPULATION OF THE LARGER CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



10,356,644 

8,840,388 

57,888,762 

77,085,794 





1890. 


1900. 




1890. 


1900, 


New York, N.Y. . 


1,515,301 3,437,202^ 


Worcester, Mass. 


. 84,655 


118,421 


Chicago, 111... 


. 1,009,850 


[,698,575 


Syracuse, N.Y. . . 


. 88,143 


108,374 


Philadelphia, Pa. . 


. 1,046,964 


[,293,697 


New Haven, Conn. . 


. 81,298 


108,027 


Brooklyn, N.Y. 


806,343 




Paterson, N.J. .. 


. 78,347 


105,171 


St. Leuis, Mo. 


451,770 


575,238 


Fall River, Mass. 


. 74,398 


104,863 


Boston, Mass. 


448,477 


560,892 


St. Joseph, Mo. . . 


. 52,324 


102,979 


Baltimore, Md. 


434,439 


508,957 


Omaha, Neb. 


. . 140,452 


102,555 


Cleveland. O. 


261.353 


381,768 


Los Angeles. Cal. 


. 50,395 


102,479 


Buffalo, N.Y. 


255,669 


352,387 


Memphis, Tenn.. . 


. 64,495 


102,320 


San Francisco, Cal. 


298,997 


342,782 


Scranton, Pa. 


. 75,215 


102,026 


Cincinnati, O. 


296,908 


325,902 


Lowell, Mass. 


• 77,696 


94,969 


Pittsburg, Pa. 


238,617 


32I,6l6 


Albany, N.Y. 


. • 94,923 


94.'5i 


New Orleans, La . 


242,039 


287,104 


Cambridge, Mass. 


. 70,028 


91,886 


Detroit, Mich. 


205,876 


285,704 


Portland, Ore. . . 


. 46,385 


90,426 


Milwaukee, Wis. . 


204,468 


285,315 


Atlanta, Ga. 


. 65,533 


89,872 


Washington, D.C. . 


230,392 


278,718 


Grand, Rapids, Mich. 


. 60,278 


87.565 


Newark. N.J. 


181,830 


246,070 


Dayton, O. 


. 61,220 


85,333 


Jersey City, N.J. 
Louisville, Ky. 


163,003 


206,433 


Richmond, Va. . . 


. 81,388 


85,050 


161,129 


204,731 


Nashville, Tenn.. . 


. 76,168 


80,665 


Minneapolis, Minn. 


164,738 


202,718 


Seattle, Wash. . . 


. 42,837 


80,671 


Providence, R.I. . 


132,146 


175,597 


Hartford, Conn.. . 


. 53,230 


79,850 


Indianapolis. Ind. 


105,436 


169,164 


Reading, Pa. " 


. 58,661 


78,961 


Kansas City, Mo. . 


132,716 


163,752 


Wilmington, Del 


. 81,431 


76,508 


St. Paul. Minn. 


133,156 


163,065 


Camden, N.J. 


. 58,313 


75,935 


Rochester, N.Y. 


133.896 


162,608 


Trenton, N.Y. . . • 


• 57,458 


73,307 


Denver, Col.. . 


106,713 


133,859 


Bridgeport, Conn. 


. 48,866 


70,996 


Toledo, O. . . 


81,434 


131,822 


Lynn, Mass. 


• 55,727 


68,513 


Alleghenv, Pa. 


105,287 


129,896 


Lawrence, Mass. 


• 44,654 


62,559 


Columbus, O. 


88,150 


125,560 


Des Moines, Iowa 


. 50,093 


62,139 




LAND 


UNDER 


CROPS IN 1901. 






Crop . . Indian C 


3rn. Wheat 


Ot 


Is. Cotton. Ba 


rlev. Potatoes. 2 


Acres . . 9i,35o,( 


300 49,896,000 28,5 


.1,000 27,532,000 4,2 


96,000 2 


,611,000 



1 Includes Brooklyn. 



2 In 1900. 



The United States 773 

CHIEF WHEAT-GROWING STATES, 1901. 
State . . . . Kansas. Minnesota. N. Dakota. S. Dakota. Nebraska. United States. 
Million bushels .. 991 801 593 517 4 20 748'5 

CHIEF COTTON-GROWING STATES, 1899. 

State Texas. Georgia. Mississipi. Alabama. S. Carolina. United States. 

Bales of Raw Cotton 2,438,000 1,346,000 1,204,000 1,005,000 831,000 9,143.000 

CHIEF MINERAL PRODUCTIONS IN 1901. 

Product .. .. Bituminous Coal. 1 Anthracite. Pig Iron. Gold. Silver. 

Amount — tons ..- 201,630,000 60,242,000 15,878,0002 — — 

Value — £ . . . . 47,300,000 22,500,000 48,400,000 15,730,000 14,270,000 

GROWTH OF RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Date 1830. 1850. 1870. 1890. 1900. 

Miles open 23 9,021 52,922 169,698 194.334 

ANNUAL TRADE OF UNITED STATES (in pounds sterling). 

1871-75. 1881-85. 1891-95. 

Imports ' .. 115,600,000 .. 133,400,000 .. 157,000,000 

Exports 97,200,000 .. 154,900,000 .. 174,500,000 



DESTINATION AND ORIGIN OF FOREIGN TRADE. 
(Percentage of total in 1896.) 



Country. Exports to 

United Kingdom . . 463 

Germany i2'i 

France 54 

British North America 57 

Brazil 12 

Netherlands 4-8 

Belgium . . 3-1 

Italy , 21 

Mexico 22 

Japan 13 

China 12 

Other Countries 14-6 



Imports from 
23-1 
I4-5 

8-9 

5'3 

90 

17 

17 

2-5 

23 

3-1 

2-6 
253 



Total Trade. 

36-4 

I3'i 

6-8 

56 

4 - 4 

3-5 

2-6 

22 

22 

2'I 

i-8 
I9"3 



Total 1000 1000 ioo - o 

STANDARD BOOKS. 

J. Bryce. " The American Commonwealth." 2 vols. London, 1893-95. 

" Reports of the Eleventh Census, 1890." ca. 20 vols. Washington. 

"Reports of U.S. Bureau of Ethnology." Volumes published at frequent intervals. 
Washington. 

"Reports of U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey." Annua/. Also special mem- 
oirs on different districts. Washington. 

"National Geographic Monographs" (by various authors). Washington. 

Elisee Reclus. " Nouvelle Geographie Universelle." Vol. xvi. Paris, 1892, and Eng- 
lish translation, London. 

N. S. Shaler (Editor). "The United States of America by various Writers." 2 vols. 
London, 1894. 

F. Ratzel. " Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika." 2nd edit. 2 vols. Munich, 1893. 

H. Gannett. " The United States " in Stanford's Compeiidiutu. London, 1898. 

J. D. Whitney. "The United States." 2 vols. Boston, 1889 and 1894. 

J. Lane Allen. "The Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky." New York, 1900. 

Burroughs, Muir, and others. "Alaska." 2 vols. New York,. 1902. 

A. P. Brigham. "Geographical Influences in American History." Boston, 1903. 

Ellen C. Semple. " American History and its Geographical Conditions." Boston, 1903. 

A. H. Brooks. "The Geography and Geology of Alaska." Washington, 1906. 



1 For development of coal production (Anthracite and Bituminous) see curve in Fig. 70. 

2 In 1902 the production exceeded 17,800,000 tons. 



CHAPTER XL.— MEXICO 

By Angelo Heilprin, 

Professor of Geology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

Position and Extent. — The Republic of Mexico (Spanish, Mejico), 
which bounds the United States on the south, lies between latitudes 32^° 
and 14^° N., and the meridians 86^° and 117 W. of Greenwich. In 
its north and south extent it thus lies almost equally within and without 
the tropics. The boundary line with the United States, which was deter- 
mined by treaties in 1848 and 1853, has a length of 1,833 miles, of which 
1,136 are constituted by the Rio Grande, from the mouth of that stream 
in the Gulf of Mexico upwards. The boundary with Guatemala, which 
was finally adjusted by treaty in 1895, fixes the southern point of the 
republic almost at the mouth of the Zuchiate river. The area of the 
country, inclusive of a few small outlying islands, is some 767,000 square 
miles, or approximately three times that of Austria- Hungary. Mexico has 
two peninsular parts — the peninsula of Lower California (officially, Baja 
California) and Yucatan, the latter properly comprising the two States of 
Yucatan and Campeche. The great Gulf of California, which separates 
the main mass of the republic from Lower California and receives at its 
northern extremity the Colorado River from the United States, occupies 
seemingly the position of a sunken block of the Earth's crust which broke 
continuity between what is now the peninsular apex and the protruding 
coastline of the State of Jalisco. 

Configuration. — Mexico is pre-eminently a region of mountain eleva- 
tions, but this is not always to be recognised in the interior on account 
of the development of a' broad elevated .tableland whose flat or gently 
undulating surface, rising from the depression of the Rio Grande to 
graduated altitudes of 6,000, 7,000, and 8,000 feet, or even more, masks 
the configuration of the land. Much of this plateau has been formed 
through a progressive and long-continued accumulation of detrital material, 
representing in part the distributed products resulting from mountain 
destruction and in greater part the discharges from an almost endless 
number of volcanic openings. These have, as it were, filled the original 
valleys to their lips, and it is thus upon the new surface that the more 
recent or existing valleys have been imposed. In this conception, the 
great central plateau of Mexico is not of tectonic construction, but merely 
a filled-up series of troughs, not wholly unlike the snow-accumulated 
tableland of Greenland, through whose margins alone the buried moun- 

774 



Mexico 775 



tains protrude their summit-peaks. In Mexico, too, especially in the loftier 
parts of the plateau, buried mountains rear their summits as "islands" above 
the enveloping mass ; elsewhere they make continuous ridges or chains, 
whose crest-lines may be as much as 10,000 feet above the sea. The east 
and west flanks of the plateau clearly reveal their mountain origin, and 
in their sudden plunge to the lowlands the Sierra Madre Oriental and the 
Sierra Madre Occidental — as the two main lines of bulwarks and their 
ramifications are vaguely designated — present some of the most marked 
physical features, and at the same time some of the sublimest views of 
nature, that are to be met with on the Earth's surface. What relation the 
Mexican Cordilleras bear to the main Rocky Mountain system of North 
America has not yet been definitely determined, but that they do not con- 
stitute that integral part which was at one time assumed, is certain ; and 
it remains for further investigation to ascertain the relationship, if any 
such exists, with the South American Andes. 

Volcanoes. — The volcanoes of Mexico are very numerous, and they 
constitute the highest relief of the land. The loftiest of these are : 
Citlaltepetl, the " Star Mountain " — commonly known as the Peak of 
Orizaba — (18,250 feet), ranking, with the possible exception of Mount 
Logan, as the highest summit of the North American continent ; Popo- 
catepetl, the " Smoking Mountain " (17,520 feet) ; Ixtaccihuatl, the " White 
Woman " (16,960 feet) ; Nevado de Toluca (14,950 feet) ; Malinche (Mat- 
lalcueyatl, 13,460 feet) ; Cofre de Perote (Nauhcampatepetl, 13,400 feet) ; 
Nevado de Colima (14,210 feet) ; Volcan de Colima (12,990 feet) ; Cerro de 
Apisco (12,700 feet) ; and Tancitaro (12,650 feet). The first two of these, 
both resting with one foot on the plateau, might properly be considered 
as dormant cones, since they continue to exhale from perfectly preserved 
craters aqueous and sulphurous vapours ; they are amongst the most 
beautifully formed of volcanic mountains. Ixtaccihuatl is manifestly 
a broken-down and dismantled volcano, having to-day the contour of 
some of the silenced volcanic peaks of the equatorial Andes, such as 
Antisana ; similar wrecks are the Nevado de Toluca (in whose crater 
is one of the most elevated lakes of the globe) and the Cofre de Perote. 
Colima is the most active volcano of the land, its eruptions having been 
almost unremitting for many years. Its position off the plateau, on the Pacific 
slope, allies it with Jorullo — a mountain of only Vesuvian proportions, made 
famous by Humboldt's recital of its terrific constructive eruption of 1759-63. 
Heated columns of air, with a temperature of 167 F., still rise from the 
crater-walls of this forest-clad mountain. Some efforts have been made 
by geographers and geologists to prove that the principal volcanic cones 
are situated on one or more main lines of fissure which traverse the region 
in an extended east and west course ; and it has even been contended that 
the southern edge of the plateau was coincident with one of these lines, 
but this still remains to be demonstrated. The snow-line in the region of 
the higher summits being found but little below 15,000 feet, only three 



776 The International Geography 



of the peaks — Orizaba, Popocatepetl, and Ixtaccihuatl — are perpetually 
snow-clad, although the names of two other summits — Nevado de Toluca 
and Nevado de Colima — signify ice-mountain. The writer has seen the 
Nevado de Toluca entirely destitute of either snow or ice. Only on 
Ixtaccihuatl does the ice-cap acquire a development sufficient to form true 
glaciers. 

Rivers and Lakes. — Mexico is singularly deficient in large permanent 
streams, and the Mexican rivers offer but little opportunity to navigation. 
Apart from the Rio Grande, which at times becomes almost dry between 
El Paso and Presidio del Norte in consequence of irrigation tappings in 
New Mexico, the most important waterways are the Rio Conchos in the 
north, the Rio Lerma, or Santiago, and Rio de las Balsas (Mescala) — both 
flowing to the Pacific — in the south, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta, 
in the State of Chiapas, east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. About fifteen 
miles from the city of Guadalajara the Lerma is precipitated over the 
magnificent fall of Juanacatlan, the " Niagara of Mexico." Nearly all 
parts of the country are gashed by deep troughs or excavated water- 
channels (barrancas), many of which are waterless during the dry season ; 
but, after the rains, are wild with the tumult of tumbling waters, to whose 
revivifying influence a luxurious vegetation responds. 

There are no really large lakes in the republic, that of Chapla on the 
Lerma, in the state of Jalisco, being the largest ; but Cuitzeo and Patzcuaro, 

in the State of Michoacan, are ex- 
tremely picturesque. Six lacustrine 
basins, covering considerable area, 
but with very insignificant depth, 
occupy much of the valley of the 
City of Mexico, or the true plain 
of Anahuac, but their waters are 
merely relics of the much larger 
extent which they formerly occu- 
pied. At the time of the Spanish 
conquest, the City of Mexico was 
a city of islands, being completely 

surrounded by the waters of Lake 
Fig. 368. — The Valley of Mexico. _ .. .. ,. , TT 

* J Texcoco. At the time of Hum- 

boldt's visit the western borders of that lake occupied a position about one 
mile to the eastward of the city limits ; now, except in time of floods, this 
distance is about doubled. The depth of water in the lake at the present 
day, under normal conditions, hardly exceeds two feet over a large 
part of its area. The Mexican capital has at various times been 
inundated by the flooding of these lakes, and on account of the sewage 
of the city discharging into a lake without outlet epidemic malarial and 
gastric fevers have been common, and their ravages have only been checked 
by the benefits of a climate of 7,000 feet elevation. As it is, the death-rate 



f.rutUsh Miles ^ ' V^ 
10 30 

\ S .-7 V 




Mexico 777 



in the Mexican capital, 40 per 1,000, is the highest of any city in the 
civilised world. The problem of drainage has thus become so serious that 
the greatest drainage system and one of the most remarkable engineering 
enterprises in the world was commenced in 1866 and completed in 1898. 
This desague, as the work is called, comprises a canal forty-three miles in 
length and a tunnel somewhat exceeding six miles, the latter discharging 
into the valley of Tequixquiac, due north of Lake Zumpango. 

Climate. — The tropical position of Mexico, combined with its high 
elevation, necessarily ensures to the land a variety of climatic conditions. 
What is ordinarily considered to be a stifling tropical temperature charac- 
terises the lowland region — at least, its southern half— for the greater part 
of the year, the maximum temperature at Merida (Yucatan), Mazatlan, 
and Colima, not infrequently reaches 105 F. Ordinarily the summer heat 
is not more oppressive than in the southern or central United States, and 
along the immediate ocean border it is tempered by indraughts of cool 
sea-air. Over the greater part of the plateau-surface a mild temperate 
climate prevails, the temperature in summer rarely rising above 88° or 90 , 
or in winter falling much below the freezing point. Snow in the Mexican 
capital is an extreme rarity, but it is not absolutely unknown. 

In a general way the Mexicans recognise three superimposed zones of 
climate : the hot zone, or tierra caliente, extending from sea-level to about 
3,000 feet of elevation ; the temperate zone, tierra templada, between 3,000 
and 5,000 feet ; and the cold zone, tierra fria, comprising the land above 
7,000 feet. Manifestly this zonal distribution of climate, in a region whose 
meridianal extent is upwards of 1,200 miles, differs considerably for the 
northern and southern sections of the country. Two well-marked seasonal 
conditions characterise much or most of the region. The rainy season, 
which occurs between May or June and October or November, brings joy 
to the landscape of Mexico, when the slumbering forces of vegetable and 
animal nature are again called into activity. During the height of the 
rainy season torrential rain falls almost daily, especially between the hours 
from two to four in the afternoon. In the dry season little or no rain falls. 
The highest rainfall appears to be at about Monterey, in the State of Nuevo 
Leon, where an annual average of about 130 inches has been established ; 
in the region about the City of Mexico, which represents the conditions 
of a large part of the plateau, the annual precipitation is about 25 inches. 
At Jalapa, situated (at an elevation of 4,400 feet) on the coastal slope of the 
Gulf of Mexico, the number of rainy days per year has been known to 
exceed 200. The conditions of rainfall throughout much of the land have 
unquestionably been greatly modified since the period of the Spanish 
conquest, as a result of extensive deforestation. 

Flora and Fauna. — The Mexican flora naturally combines most 
diverse features. Dense and exuberant tropical jungles cover much of 
the low-lying tracts and the basal 2,000 to 3J000 feet of the mountain 
declivities. The forest is still in greater part virgin, and access to it 



778 The International Geography 

is obtained chiefly along the highways and the different waterways that 
irregularly thread through it. Among the dominant arboreal types of this 
tract may be mentioned the palms, figs (rubber-trees), cassalpinias, and other 
acacias, the rosewood, and mahogany ; the huge fig-trees are especially 
remarkable with their buttressed trunks. Hardly less imposing are the 
giant mangroves at various points on the coast of Yucatan. The zone 
between 4,500 and 6,000 feet, characterised by a superb growth of ever- 
green oaks, of melastomas, and in its lower part of an almost bewildering 
variety of orchidaceous plants, may be said to constitute the transition 
tract between the distinctively tropical and temperate floras ; above, it 
is succeeded by the ordinary types of oaks and by the pine, spruce and 
fir among conifers. The latter ascend the high volcanoes to about 13,000 
feet, forming magnificent forests at elevations of 9,000 to 10,000 feet. The 
" zones of vegetation," so called, can be made out with fair regularity, but 
the overlaps are remarkable for their vertical displacements. Thus, on the 
limestone ridges of the Yautepec, south of the central plateau, palms grow 
luxuriantly up to 7,500 feet ; per contra, the pine is not infrequently met 
with down to an elevation of 3,000 feet or less. The most striking exhibi- 
tions of cactus growth — in which Mexico stands pre-eminent — are found 
on the lower plains of Yucatan and in the arboreal masses, which, at an 
elevation of some 6,000 feet, clothe the mountains south of Tehuacan. 

Mexico enjoys a wealth of tropical and subtropical fruits, such as the 
orange, pine-apple, banana, coco-nut, pomegranate, anona, sapote, mango, 
and papaw, and loses correspondingly in the quality or flavour of most 
fruits of temperate climes. Among the special products of cultivation, 
indigenous or introduced, are the sugar-cane, cacao, coffee, vanilla, and 
agave, or American aloe. The last named, in Yucatan chiefly, furnishes 
the sisal hemp or fibre, while in major Mexico, an allied species yields the 
fermented national beverage known as pulque — the curse of beggardom, 
and the wealth of the endless pulquerias where it is sold. 

The fauna of Mexico is necessarily a mixture of the faunas of South 
America and of the United States, the lowlands representing the elements 
of the former and the highlands of the latter. Zoogeographically it is a 
transition tract. The larger or more distinctive quadrupeds include the tapir, 
jaguar [tigre, with a range extending nearly or quite to the Texan frontier), 
ocelot, puma or cougar, coyote (prairie-wolf), peccary (ranging to Arkansas), 
ant-eater, and armadillo. Several species of monkey find a congenial home 
southward of the 19th parallel, but at least one form, as in the sapotalcs 
or sapote forests of the northern coast of Yucatan, reaches the 21st parallel. 
The birds are of great variety. Standing at the edge of the great plateau 
the traveller may be beguiled by the tones of the robin or mocking-bird, 
and three hours later by foot-walk his feathered companions will be the 
toucan, chattering parrots, the humming-bird, and cassique, or hangnest. 
Alligators, and perhaps even the American crocodile, are abundant in some 
of the lowland streams, as well as in bays and estuaries, and ordinarily they 



Mexico 779 



are much more in evidence than the ophidians, large and small, which 
belong to the forest tract. Non-venomous water-snakes are singularly 
numerous in some of the plateau lakes. As special faunal elements should 
be mentioned the remarkable tailed amphibian axolotl, and from among 
insects, the travelling or foraging ants and nest-constructing termites. 

People. — The inhabitants of Mexico resolve themselves into three 
categories : native Indians, of some 40 to 50 tribes ; Spaniards, or the 
descendants of the conquerors of Mexico, together with representatives 
of other European races ; and the mixed people resulting from a union 
of these two, who are often spoken of simply as Mexicans. Probably 
about 19 per cent, of the people are of European descent, 38 per cent; 
are native Indians, and 43 per cent, mixed races 
(Mexicans). It would appear that the native popu- 
lation has been steadily decreasing since the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. The Mexican 
Indians, with certain exceptions (Apaches, Comanches, 
Seris), are of a less warlike disposition than the 
Indians of the farther north, and, on the whole, may 
be said to be a hard-working, moral, and sober people, 



distinctly inclined to the arts of peace. Little or no Fig. 369.— Average pop- 
. ,. . , , ,, , , ulalion of a square 

prejudice exists against them as a race, and where miie j Mexico. 

by station or education they have advanced to a 

special grade of civilisation, they are accepted in marriage among the 

highest families of Spanish blood. They are kindly, courteous and 

dignified in mien and disposition, easily recognising the position which 

they occupy, and law-abiding to a most generous extent. 

The most important of the hundred modern languages of Mexico are 
the Mexican (Nahuatl Aztec), Comanche - Shoshone, Mixteco - Zapoteca, 
Maya-Quiche and Otomi. The Nahua tribe of the Mexico. (Mexicans) 
derives its name from Mexitl, a word of obscure origin and meaning, but 
often assumed to be synonymous with Huitzilopochtli, the Mexican God 
of War. That Mexica and Azteca (the people from Aztlan, " the land of 
the white heron ") define the same people — a people migrating in from the 
north — admits of no doubt ; hence, we may assume that Mexicans and 
Aztecs (including the Toltecs, who appear to have been only Mexicans 
from the region about Tula, and not an earlier independent migratory 
horde) represent in part the people who were ruled by the various kings 
and monarchs styled Motecuzoma, Moctezuma or Montezuma. 

To what period of construction belong the monumental ruins that are 
scattered through southern Mexico — in Uxmal and Chichen-Itza in Yucatan, 
of Palenque in the State of Chiapas, or of Mitla in the State of Oaxaca — 
still remains to be determined, although recent research does not seem 
to demand an antiquity exceeding 700 to 1,000 years. 

History and Government. — When conquered by Cortez in 1521 
Mexico was called the Province of New Spain : it remained a 



780 The International Geography 




FIG 370. — Mexican Flag. 



dependency of the Spanish crown for precisely three centuries, and was 
ruled successively by Governors, Audencias, and Viceroys. On September 
27, 1821, the Spanish power in Mexico finally terminated, after a struggle 
of eleven years. An Empire was proclaimed early in 1822 ; but this was 
followed by the proclamation of a Republican 
Constitution in 1824. A generally stormy period 
led up to the war with the United States (April, 
1846, to September, 1847). After some deter- 
mined resistance on the part of the Mexicans, 
Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, as the represen- 
tative of Napoleon III. of France, was placed upon 
the throne of Mexico in 1864, and thus was consti- 
tuted the second Empire. After the fall of the empire and the execution of 
the emperor in 1867 the Republic was re-established and became prosperous. 
Mexico is now organised as a Federal Republic, composed of twenty- 
seven States, two territories, and one federal district, whose political 
organisation is almost identical with that of the United States. The powers 
of the government are vested in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial 
bodies, the first-named consisting of a House of Representatives and of 
a Senate, representation in which is brought about by the suffrages of the 
people. The Executive or President is elected by electors popularly chosen 
and holds office for four years ; there is no provision forbidding re-election. 
Industries. — Mexico is one of the richest mining countries of the 
world, her mineral resources, which are as yet only partially developed, 
comprising gold, silver, platinum, copper, lead, iron and mercury. The 
annual output of silver is now claimed to be in value nearly ^12,000,000, 
and of gold about ^1,000,000. The main silver mines are comprised in 
the mining districts of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Catorce. An extensive 
industry is carried on in opals (principally from the region of Queretaro), 
and in the so-called " Mexican onyx,", a beautifully shaded stalagmitic 
calcite which occurs in interbedded layers in the State of Puebla. 

There are extensive manufactures of cotton and woollen goods (cloths, 
blankets, shawls), of leather (saddles and accessory trappings, shoes), and 
of felt and straw (hats) ; the pottery of 'Guadalajara is famous. 

The cultivation of coffee is destined to become one of the foremost 
industries of the land, the lower tracts of the tierra cahente being particularly 
favourable to its growth. The coffee of Cordoba ranks but little inferior 
to the best coffee of the New World. Agriculture, although extensively 
practised, has in many districts hardly passed a primitive or experimental 
stage, and it is no uncommon thing to see the ancient forked or hooked stick 
serving for the plough-share. An equally primitive condition of the road- 
ways and of transportation equipments prevails, transport over large areas 
being still almost exclusively by donkeys. During late years there 
has been an astonishing development of railroad enterprises, the length 
of roads operated by steam being, in 1901, over 9,500 miles. Two trunk 



Mexico 



781 



lines — the Mexican Central and the Mexican National — connect the City 
of Mexico with the United States frontier. The Mexican Railway, con- 
necting the capital with Vera Cruz, was officially opened in 1873, and 
remains one of the most remarkable pieces of railroad construction. 

Towns. — Mexico (Fig. 368), the ancient Tenochtitlan, capital of the 
Federal District and of the Republic of Mexico, is situated at an elevation of 
7,350 feet above the sea-level. It combines the sumptuousness of a little 
Paris with the 'beggardom of Naples, the activity of a city of the north with 
the full inactivity of cities of the south. Here was established, in 1536, the 
pioneer printing-press of America, and, in 1693, the first newspaper 
(Mercurio Volante) of the New World. Schools, colleges, hospitals, and 
asylums flourish in abundance. The National Museum contains a most 
important collection of American antiquities — a treasure-house to the 
archaeologist and ethnologist. The School of Fine Arts, or Academy of 
San Carlos, occupies the site where Fray Pedro de Gante, in 1524, founded 
the first school in the New World. The architectural features of the city 
are predominantly Spanish, the " palaces " of the wealthier classes down to 
the dingy shops of the poorer tradespeople, together with the arcades, 
municipal buildings, and churches, having fully accepted the controlling 
lines of Old Spain. The most striking edifice is the cathedral, the largest 
and most sumptuous church of America, erected on the site of the pyramidal 
temple of the titular god of the Aztecs. 

The most important ports or harbours of Mexico are, on the Pacific 
side, Mazatlan, San Bias, Manzanillo, and Acapulco ; and, on the Gulf 
coast, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Coatzacoalcos, Campeche, and Progreso (the 
last two in Yucatan). Acapulco has been described as the most beautiful 
Pacific port of all America, and, after Sydney, the finest harbour in the 
world. Vera Cruz, which has so long held supremacy as the eastern port, 
is destined to be supplanted by Tampico, the cpen coral-reef waters, in 
their exposure to the sudden and powerful north winds {el Norte), being 
unsuited for protracted anchorage. 



STATISTICS. 



Area of Mexico in square miles 

Population of Mexico. . 

Density of population per square mile 



1879. 
767,005 
9,908,011 
13 



Population of— 
Mexico City 
Puebla- . . 
Leon 



Imports 
Exports 



1879. 
241,110 
68,634 



1900. 

344.721 
93.521 

58,426 



1900. 

767,005 

13.545,462 

18 



Population of — 1900 

Guadalajara 101,208 

Monterey 62,266 

San Luis Potosi 61,019 



ANNUAL TRADE (in founds sterling). 
Average 1871-75. 1881-85. 

5,500,000 .. .. 6,170,000 
5,000,000 . . . . 6,830,000 



1891-95. 
7,600,000 
7,500,000 



STANDARD BOOKS. 

W. H. Prescott. " History of the Conquest of Mexico." London. 

H. H. Bancroft. "Resources and Development of Mexico." San Francisco, 1894. 

M. Romero. "Geographical and Statistical Notes on Mexico." New York and London, 18 

Prince R. Bonaparte and others. "LeMexique." 2 vols. Paris, 1904. 



BOOK V.: 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 



CHAPTER XLI.— CENTRAL AMERICA 

By Dr. Carl Sapper, 

Coban. 

Central America. — The Central American republics — Guatemala, 
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica — and the colony of British 
Honduras, occupy the greater part of the area of the land bridge 
between the North and the South American continents. They are bounded 




Fig. 371. — Central America. 

on the north by the republic of Mexico, and on the south by the Colom- 
bian State of Panama, and lie between the Pacific Ocean and the 
Caribbean or Antillian Sea of the Atlantic. Both coasts are fairly 
uniform, forming only a few large bays, the Gulf of Honduras or Bay 



Central America 783 



of Amatique on the Caribbean, and the smaller gulfs of Fonseco, Nicoya, 
and Golfo Dulce on the Pacific side. 

Orography and Geology. — Central America is very mountainous, 
the greatest heights occurring among the mountains of Guatemala and 
Costa Rica, while the ranges between them are only of moderate elevation. 
The beautiful cones of numerous volcanoes rise in a long, broken row 
near the Pacific coast ; only where the land narrows in Costa Rica do 
they stretch across to the Atlantic side. The soft volcanic ashes which 
have accumulated are of great importance, forming plains in the mountain 
region, and, together with river deposits, along the coasts, where they 
materially increase the fertility of the soil. In the neighbourhood of the 
volcanic belt earthquakes are common and sometimes very severe, as the 
frequent destruction of towns testifies. Amongst the specially memorable 
catastrophes are those of Guatemala in 1773 and 1902, of San Salvador in 
1854 and 1873, of Jucuapa (Salvador) in 1878, of Cartago (Costa Rica) in 
1841 and 1851, of Rivas (Nicaragua) in 1844, and of Leon (Nicaragua) in 
1609. Earthquakes are rarer and less severe in the non-volcanic districts 
and least frequent on the Atlantic coast. They are very rarely felt in 
British Honduras. 

Surface of Guatemala. — In the northern republic of Guatemala 
it is easy to distinguish three orographic zones, the northern hilly 
plain of Peten, merging into the southern hilly district and northern 
plain of -British Honduras ; then the mountain chain of Central 
Guatemala, which attains heights of 12,500 feet, and the massive 
range of South Guatemala, which reaches 11,900 feet in Cerro Cotzic, 
and is continued towards the east into Honduras and Salvador. 
On the southern ridge of the last-named range numerous volcanoes 
rise, the highest, as determined by the triangulations of the inter- 
continental railway commission in 1892, are Tajumulco, 13,814 feet, 
Tacana, 13,334 feet, and Acatenango, 12,992 feet. The Pacific coast plain 
stretches at the foot of the volcanoes. The plain of Peten is composed 
for the most part of horizontally stratified recent Tertiary limestones. 
The northern chain of the Central Guatemala system, which appears to 
have been upheaved in middle Tertiary times, is composed of strongly 
folded and up-tilted early Tertiary and Mesozoic strata including an Upper 
Cretaceous limestone, which plays a large part. The middle chain is 
Palaeozoic, including schists and Carboniferous limestones, and both chains 
are broken through by the transverse valley of the Rio Chixoy. The 
southern chain (Sierra de Las Minas and Del Mico) is of Archaean formation, 
principally mica-schist. Outbursts of granite, diorite, and serpentine 
pierce these ancient rocks. The cordillera in southern Guatemala is built 
up of recent eruptive rocks, partly andesite and partly basalt. Most of the 
volcanoes of Guatemala are extinct ; during historic times eruptions have, 
however, been recorded of Tacana, Cerro Quemado, Fuego and Pacaya. 

Surface of Salvador. — In the republic of Salvador the mountain 



784 The International Geography 

chains of recent eruptive rocks rarely exceed 5,000 feet in height, and 
are broken through by the transverse valley of the Rio Lempa. Steep- 
sided spurs of the Honduras Mountains in the north are separated from 
one another by deep-cut river valleys. The Pacific coast plain is rather 
narrow, and the main mountain ridge behind it contains most of the 
volcanoes,- none of which reach 8,000 feet. During historical times the 
volcanoes Santa Ana, Quezaltepeque, San Miguel, Conchagua, and 
Conchaguita, have been active ; Izalco was formed in 1793 and has since 
been continually in eruption ; on the other hand, a new volcano which 
appeared in Lake Ilopango in 1880, has since nearly disappeared. The 
mountains of this republic have on the whole been little explored. 

Surface of Honduras. — In the south of Honduras the mountains 
of recent eruptive rock are separated into different groups by deeply- 
trenched valleys, and some considerable depressions of the crest. In 
northern Honduras the mountains present the appearance of a chain, 
although eruptive flows play a considerable part in their structure : quartz 
porphyry in the southern, Mesozoic and granite in the northern, chain 
of Archaean rock. The latter reaches its greatest height in Congrehoy 
Peak, 8,040 feet.. The mountainous Bay Islands, Roatan, Utila, and 
Bonaca are remnants of a former parallel chain. There are almost no 
volcanoes in Honduras except the extinct volcanic islands in the Gulf 
of Fonseca on the Pacific. 

Surface of Nicaragua. — A great alluvial plain, similar to that 
of British Honduras, stretches along the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, 
and behind it the extensive highlands of Segovia, Matagalpa and 
Chontales, composed of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic strata with granite 
and basalt intrusions, reaches a maximum height of 7,000 feet. Beyond 
it there is a broad and remarkable depression occupied by the Gulf 
of Fonseca in the north, and further south by the great lakes of 
Managua and Nicaragua and the valley of their effluent, the San Juan 
river. On the west this depression is bordered by the low mountains 
of the coast cordillera. Numerous volcanoes rise from the volcanic 
ashes and tuffs with which the depression is covered, and many of 
them are active. Omotepe, on an island in Lake Nicaragua, is one 
of these, and- the eruption of Coseguina in 1835 is famous as one of 
the most tremendous and disastrous known to history. 

Surface of Costa Rica. — Two parallel mountain ranges run 
through Costa Rica, separated by the depression of Cartago ; on the 
northern range there are several active volcanoes, two of which, 
Turrialba and Irazu, exceed 11,000 feet in height. The southern chain 
has also numerous lofty mountains, but its highest peak (the volcano 
Chiriqui, 10,150 feet) lies beyond the southern border. The geological 
formations are similar to those of Nicaragua. 

Hydrography. — The rivers of Central America flow partly to the 
Atlantic Ocean and partly to the Pacific, but a few find their way into 



Central America 785 

lakes which have no outlet. The main watershed runs near the Pacific 
coast and thus the rivers entering the Atlantic are longer, and some of 
them are navigable in places for light-draught boats. It was proposed 
(before the United States took up the Panama Canal) to utilise the San 
Juan river flowing from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea in the 
formation of a ship canal, to join the two oceans through the great lake. 
The Usumacinta and its chief tributaries, the Chixoy and Rio de la Pasion 
in northern Guatemala are navigable, but rapids on the border of 
the Mexican province of Tabasco interrupt communication with the 
sea. There are numerous* lakes, chief amongst them the great Lake 
Nicaragua, with an area of over 3,000 square miles, and Lake Managua, 
which discharges into it. Lake Yzabal (Golfo Dulce) in Guatemala and 
the numerous very beautiful mountain tarns and crater-lakes in most parts 
of Central America are distinctive features. Lakes without outlet are 
common in the limestone region of northern Guatemala, the largest being 
Lake Peten ; in the rainy season many shallow temporary lakes (Akalches) 
are formed in the hollows of the same region. Numerous lagoons of 
brackish water occur along both coasts. 

Climate. — Central America lying completely within the tropics in 8° 
to 18 N., where the trade winds prevail, the climate would necessarily 
be damp and hot were it not for the prominent mountain system, which 
influences both temperature and rainfall. While the mean annual tem- 
perature on the coast is about 8o° F., in Quezaltenango, at an elevation of 
7,700 feet, it is only 58 . The annual range is comparatively small ; the 
average temperature of the coolest month, December or January, is only 
from 6° to 12 below that of the hottest month, April or May. The 
direction and extent of the mountain ranges exercise the principal 
influence on the atmospheric humidity and rainfall. Where the east or 
north-east trades blow, the slopes facing the Atlantic are moister than 
those of the Pacific ; on the latter coast only the southern slopes of the 
highest elevations in Guatemala extract a heavy rainfall from the sea 
breezes. The driest regions are those which are protected by mountain 
ranges from both oceans. All Central America is subject to numerous 
thunderstorms during the summer rainy season (Inviemo), which reach a 
maximum shortly after each solstice. On the Atlantic coast the summer rainy 
season passes gradually into the trade wind rains, characterised by a mini- 
mum of thunderstorms but many rain showers of long duration, and leading 
to a winter rainy season with moderate precipitation, from February to April. 
On the Pacific slope a dry period (Verano) prevails from November to 
May. As an example of the influence of mountains on the distribution of 
rainfall it may be mentioned that the annual fall at Tual on the northern 
slope of the Central Guatemalan Chain (2,700 feet) is about 195 inches, in 
Coban on the top of the mountains (4,300 feet) 100 inches, and in Salama 
(3,050 feet) on the dry inland district of central Guatemala only 27 inches ; 
while in Guatemala city (4,850 feet) on the crest of the Southern 



786 The International Geography 

Cordillera the rainfall is 57 inches. The zone of maximum rainfall lies 
between 2,000 and 3,500 feet in elevation, above that precipitation 
often assumes the form of mist, and at heights above 10,000 feet, of snow. 

Flora and Fauna. — Corresponding to the climate, the moist Atlantic 
side of Central America is covered with luxuriant primeval forest, which in 
the interior is rich in valuable wood, including mahogany and logwood, 
as well as in palms, creepers, and in the higher parts, tree-ferns, and 
epiphyte orchids. On the high mountains, oaks, alders, pines and cypresses 
are found. In the dry parts of the interior of the Pacific slope thin pine 
and oak woods cover the mountains, while the plains form grassy 
savannas diversified by thorny bushes. The driest parts of all are 
characterised by succulent plants such as the agave. On the Atlantic 
coast extensive deposits of sand are covered with grass and scattered pine 
trees, and known as Pine Ridges in British Honduras and on the Mosquito 
coast. According to the temperature there are three distinct floral zones. 
(1) Tierra Caliente. or hot land up to 2,000 feet, the principal zone of cacao 
cultivation, of the india-rubber and mahogany trees and of the coco-nut 
palm. (2) Tierra Templada, or temperate land from 2,000 to 6,000 feet, 
containing the principal belt of coffee cultivation. (3) Tierra Fria, or cold 
land above 6,000 feet, the principal grain and potato growing region. 
Cultivation stops at 10,500 feet, and forests at 12,500. 

Animal life is also richer and more varied in the moist than in the dry 
regions. The principal mammals of Central America are the jaguar, the 
cougar, and smaller felidas, wild swine, deer, monkeys, squirrels, and 
opossums. Bird-life is particularly rich, and the most beautiful bird of 
Central America, perhaps of the whole Earth, is the quetzal, which is 
limited to the forests of the moist and cool region. Snakes, some of them 
very poisonous, abound in the moist and hot region. Alligators and turtles 
are found in the waters of the hot land, and everywhere insect life is 
superabundant. 

People and History. — In contrast with the luxuriance of plant and 
animal life in the moist, warm region, the human 
inhabitants flourish in the drier parts, where agri- 
culture presents fewest difficulties and the conditions 
of health are favourable. The hot forest districts are 
very thinly peopled or even uninhabited, while a con- 
siderable density of population is found in the driest 
parts of the country. The prevalence of malaria in 

the low ground, both moist and dry, leads similarly 
Fig. 372. — Average pop- to . , . , , . , , , 

illation of a square mile to a concentration of population on the highlands, 
of Central America. which are free from malarial fevers. Human habi- 
tations are found as high as 10,500 feet, but above that level the mountain 
slopes are uninhabited. On the low, hot plains of Peten, in Guatemala, 
there is only one person to two square miles, while in the high department 
of Totonicapan the density of population is 285 to the square mile. 



Central America 787 



The aboriginal inhabitants at the beginning of the sixteenth century 
were much more numerous than now, and were divided into many small 
tribes, always at war with one another. The only considerable kingdom 
was that of the Quiche, which had already begun to decline when some of 
the rebellious vassals of the Quiche king sought the aid of the Spaniards 
against their sovereign. Craftily taking advantage of the disunion amongst 
the Indian tribes Pedro de Alvarado, in 1524 and 1525, took possession of 
the greater part of Guatemala and Salvador with a handful of Spaniards, 
whose horses and firearms were objects of peculiar terror. Some years 
later the Verapaz district was peacefully brought under Spanish control 
through Fray Bartolome de las Casas, the famous historian of the Spanish 
conquest of America. Costa Rica was occupied by the Spaniards from 
Panama in 1522, and Honduras was taken in 1523. Cortez himself made 
an extremely difficult campaign through northern Guatemala and into 
Honduras in 1524-25. The agricultural native tribes of Guatemala, who 
were in possession of an old and highly developed culture and possessed 
organised government, were easily overcome in war, but so stubbornly 
did they resist the introduction of new ideas and customs, that to the 
present day a large number of them have remained free from intermixture 
and preserved their ancient language. The other Indian tribes, who 
stoutly resisted the Spaniards in arms, were gradually overcome or 
absorbed, and thus it happens that over 880,000 aboriginal Indians now live 
in Guatemala, while only 70,000 exist in the rest of Central America. The 
number of Indian languages now spoken is about thirty, but most of the 
Indians also speak Spanish. The majority of the population now consists 
of Spanish-speaking Ladinos or Mestizos, i.e., offspring of Europeans and 
Indians. There are perhaps 30,000 Whites, Creoles and immigrants, and 
a larger number of Negroes, Mulattoes, the offspring of Negroes and whites, 
and Zambos, the offspring of Negroes and Indians. 

In the seventeenth century the Mosquito Indians, who lived on the east 
coast, entered into friendly relations with the British Government, and by 
British intervention the Indians of the Mosquito coast, which now forms 
part of Nicaragua, retain special privileges. Logwood cutters from 
Jamaica settled on the coast of Yucatan in the seventeenth century, and 
the colonists, by defeating a Spanish attack in 1798, definitely established 
the colony of British Honduras. In the sixteenth century Central America 
and Chiapas formed one Spanish colony, the Captain-generalship of 
Guatemala, which became independent in 1823, when Chiapas was 
included in Mexico, and the rest formed the United States of Central 
America. In 1839 they broke up into five separate republics, and 
attempts at reunion, although frequently made, have hitherto come to 
nothing. In 1896 Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvador formed themselves 
by the Treaty of Ampala into the Republica Mayor de Centroamenca, with 
common representation in foreign countries, but the agreement did not 
continue. Although there is complete religious freedom in all the 



788 The International Geography 

Central American republics, by far the most of the people are Roman 
Catholics. 

Productions and Trade. — As yet minerals are only worked 
extensively in Honduras and the north of Nicaragua, where gold and 
silver are mined. There is a little gold-washing and some lead mines in 
Guatemala, and lignite deposits are known in several places, although not 
worked. There is scarcely any manufacturing industry except the 
weaving of silk, wool and cotton on a small scale. Alios in Guatemala 
has woollen factories and a great annual market is held at Esquipulas, in 
the same republic. The export of mahogany and logwood, india-rubber 
and other forest products is considerable ; Balsam of Peru is sent out 
from Salvador, and a certain amount of vanilla and sarsaparilla are also 
exported. Most of the people live by agriculture and the collection of 
forest produce, the nature of the cultivation depending on the climate, as 
each particular branch is concentrated in a special zone. Cattle-breeding 
is mainly carried on in the dry regions of the savannas and the scattered 
oak and pine woods, which form natural pastures. Honduras and 
Nicaragua are specially favourable for cattle-rearing, while the highlands 
in the high district of Guatemala are important for sheep. The cultivation 
of the cochineal insect was once important, but has now ceased. The 
cultivation of the soil is even more influenced by climatic conditions, 
although the most important crops, maize and beans, which form the 
staple food of the people, flourish in every climate and at all altitudes up 
to 10,030 feet. Other cultivated plants are confined to the warm, moist 
land, like cacao ; to the warm, dry land, like indigo ; or to the warm and 
temperate belt, like coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice and cotton ; while 
others are confined to the cold land, like grain, potatoes and apples. 
Some products are insufficient for home use ; the cacao production 
barely suffices for the home demand and even flour must be imported 
from abroad. The only plantation product, except indigo from Salvador, 
which is exported in large quantities is coffee, which is of very fine quality, 
principally in Alta Verapaz and Costa Rica. Guatemala and Salvador 
have the largest coffee export, Costa Rioa and Nicaragua produce about 
one-quarter as much, and in Honduras the export is only beginning. 

Means of Communication.— The most important seaports of 
Central America are : in Guatemala, on the Pacific coast, the open 
roadsteads, San Jose, Champereco and Ocos, which carry on a large 
trade in coffee ; and on the Atlantic, Livingston and Puerto Barrios, the 
latter a good natural harbour, but not well situated for trade. The chief 
harbours of Salvador are Acajutea, Triumfo and La Union j in Honduras, 
on the Atlantic coast, Puerto Cortez ; and Amapaia on the Pacific. 
Nicaragua has on the Atlantic side, Bluefields and San Juan del Norte 
(Greytown) ; on the Pacific, Corinto and San Juan del Sur. The harbours of 
Costa Rica are on the Atlantic side, Puerto Linton; on the Pacific coast, 
Punta Arenas. The means of communication in the interior are still 



Central America 789 

somewhat undeveloped ; quite recently railways have been constructed or 
planned to the principal centres of coffee production, and lines joining the 
Atlantic and the Pacific seaports are open or under construction in Costa 
Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Regular steamer communication is kept 
up on a number of the lakes. The system of roads, on which goods are 
conveyed in two-wheeled ox-carts, is still very imperfect, and in the moun- 
tainous parts of the interior only mules and other beasts of burden can be 
employed. The Indians still continue to carry loads on their backs in 
wooden vessels supported by a strap round their foreheads. 

Political Divisions. — Central America is divided into six republics 
and one colony, the principal divisions and towns of which can merely be 
enumerated. 

Guatemala is divided into twenty-two departments. The capital, 
Guatemala, an inland town, is the seat of an archbishop, of a university 
and other educational establishments. The other important places are 
Quezaltenango, Antigua Guatemala, which was formerly the chief town of 
Central America, Chiquimula, and Coban. 

Salvador is divided into fourteen departments; its capital, San 
Salvador, is the seat of a bishop and of a university, and stands near its 
port, Libertad. S. Ana, S. Vicente and S. Miguel, are the other towns. 

Honduras is divided into fifteen departments, Tegucigalpa is the 
present capital, but that rank was formerly held by Comayagua, which 
is still the seat of a bishop ; both towns stand on the high plateau. 

Nicaragua has thirteen departments. Its capital is Managua, on the 
lake of the same name, but Leon is a larger town and the seat of a bishop. 
Granada on Lake Nicaragua, Masaya and Chinandega are also large towns, 
and Greytown, at the mouth of the San Juan river, will become important 
when the projected Nicaragua Canal is carried out. 

Costa Rica contains seven provinces. Its capital, S. Jose de Costa Rica, 
high up on the mountains, is the seat of a bishop, and Cariago, the former 
capital, is also an important town. 

Panama. — Formerly a province of Colombia. See p. 828. 

British Honduras. 1 — The Crown colony of British Honduras, for- 
merly dependent on Jamaica, was given a separate organ- 
isation in 1884. It is divided from Mexico by the river 
Hondo, and by the river Sarstoon from Guatemala in the 
south. The western boundary is an arbitrary line. The 
coast is bordered by a maze of small islands and coral 
reefs, rendering navigation difficult. The principal river 
is the Belize, crossing the centre of the colony, and sepa- 
rating the hilly southern part, where the Cockscomb Fl ?- 373.-— The Badge 

_ , . qf British Honduras, 

Mountains reach 4,000 feet, from the flat northern por- 
tion, a great part of which is occupied by swamps and lagoons, or shallow 
lakes. 

1 By the Editor. 




790 The International Geography 

Practically the whole area is under forest, and forest products, which 
attracted the " Baymen " in the seventeenth century, continue to be the 
staple exports of the colony. Mahogany and logwood trees are felled in 
the forests of the interior, and floated down to the coast, the quantity of 
the roughly hewn logs sent out each year largely depends on the amount 
of water in the rivers available for floating them. Coco-nuts and bananas 
are largely grown for the American market. 

The population contains only one per cent, of Europeans ; but, for the 
tropics, British Honduras is considered not unhealthy, many of the whites 
being descended from early immigrants. Besides the usual mixed races 
there are Caribs in the south, the remnant of those deported from the 
West Indies. Belize, the one town, is named after Wallace, an old 
buccaneer. It has no harbour, steamers having to anchor a mile or more 
from the river-mouth and work their cargo from lighters. 

STATISTICS (Approximate). 





Area in 




Density of pop. 


Largest 






sq. miles. 


Population. 


per sq. mile. 


Town. 


Population. 


Guatemala 


42,400 


1,365,000 


32 


Guatemala 


65,000 


Salvador.. 


8,100 


780,000 


96 


San Salvador 


25,000 


British Honduras 


7,Soo 


31,000 


4 


Belize 


7,000 


Honduras 


46,300 


382,000 


8 


Tegucigalpa 


12,600 


Nicaragua 


47,800 


313,000 


7 


Leon 


34.000 


Costa Rica 


20,800 


263,000 
3,134,000 


13 
160 


S. Jose 


19,000 


Central America 


172,900 





STANDARD BOOKS. 

T.Beit. " The Naturalist in Nicaragua." London, 1874. 

A. R. Colquhoun. " The Key of the Pacific — the Nicaragua Canal." London, 1896. 

J. R. Gibbs. " British Honduras." London, 1883. 

D. Gonzalez. " Geografia de Centro-America." San Salvador, 1877. 

C. Sapper. " Das Nordliche Mittel-Amerika." Brunswick, 1897. 

■ . " Mittelamerikanische Reisen und Studien aus den Jahren 1888 bis 1900." 

Brunswick, 1902. 
A. H. Keane. "Central and South America. Vol. II. Central America and West 

Indies" [Stanford's Compendium}. London, 1901. 
C. N. Bell. "Tangweera" [on the Indians of the Mosquito Coast]. London, 1899. 
T. Brigham. •• Guatemala, the Land of the Quetzal." London, 1887. 



CHAPTER XLIL— THE WEST INDIES 
I.— GENERAL FEATURES 



By J. Rod way, 

Georgetown, Demerara. 

Position and Structure. — The West Indian Islands extend as a 
natural breakwater in front of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, 
from 27 N. off the coast of Florida to io° N. near the shores of Venezuela. 
They contain colonies of the Danes, French, Dutch, territories of the 
United States, and independent republics, but the United Kingdom holds 
the greater number of the islands. The islands vary in size from Cuba, 




85 80 75 7© 

Fig. 374. — The West Indies. 

which is one-third larger than Ireland, to tiny rocks and keys (or cays) just 
rising above the sea. They differ also in geological structure ; some pro- 
bably once formed part of the continent, some are composed of volcanic 
rock, others only of coral. Most of them have central ridges of mountains, 
and many signs of active volcanoes may be seen in the Caribbees, where 
eruptions and earthquakes are still experienced at intervals. Taken as a 
whole the islands appear to form a great mountain chain, similar to the 

791 



792 The International Geography 

Andes, but deeply submerged. Rushing mountain torrents are common 
in all the islands ; their gullies, at one time nothing more than beds of 
sand and pebbles, are at another full and overflowing. 

Rising from the deep blue sea, covered with rich green forests, and 
bathed in the splendour of tropical sunlight the rocky islands are 
exceedingly beautiful. In sailing or steaming along from one to another 
they look like ocean gems ; here a mountain enwrapped in clouds, there a 
field of yellow-green canes, again a little town embosomed in precipices. 

Climate and Vegetation. — The climate is purely tropical. The 
sea-level temperature over the whole of the West Indies exceeds 8o° F. on 
the average from May to October, and in the cooler months rarely falls 
below 75° F., the annual range being very small. Rainfall and local 
varieties of climate are dominated by the trade winds, which blow all the 
year round. From October to March the north-east trades blow strongly ; 
as summer advances they become rather weaker, and eddy, so as to blow 
from the east and south-east over the whole group, gradually returning to 
a north-easterly direction about September. One consequence of the 
steady easterly winds is that the windward or eastward coasts of the 
Caribbees are beaten on by a continual surf, while the leeward or western 
coasts have usually calm water, and deep, unsilted harbours. All the 
important towns of the Lesser Antilles lie on the west of the islands. The 
rainy season takes place towards the end of summer, October being the 
wettest month as a rule, and the dry season is at its height between 
December and April, when the northerly component predominates in the 
wind. From August to October hurricanes are frequently experienced. 
The local climates vary considerably in the various islands. The Bahamas 
are cooler and more healthy than the Caribbees, and in Jamaica the 
inhabitants have the cool mountain slopes to which they can retire when 
the coast is uncomfortably hot. 

Most of the land is fertile, and in some islands particularly rich, although 
in others, such as the Bahamas, it is almost barren. There are few wild 
animals, but birds and insects are plentiful, while the flora is particularly 
varied and interesting. All tropical friiits and vegetables can be grown, 
but the staple has hitherto been sugar cane. Latterly the low price of 
sugar consequent on the bounties given by European countries to en- 
courage beet growing has reduced many of the West Indian islands to a 
very low condition, a state of things intensified in some of the islands by 
civil war and bad government. 

People. — Since the discovery of the West Indies by Columbus in 1492 
the original inhabitants have almost entirely disappeared, leaving only a 
few degenerate half-breed Caribs in St. Vincent. The great labour 
experiment of negro slavery was tried on a vast scale, and, whatever may 
have been the evils of that system, there is no doubt that it was successful 
from an economic point of view. It has resulted in peopling the islands 
with a tropical race which seems well fitted to carry out their development, 



Cuba 



793 



and may perhaps some day make an impression on the world. Without 
the negro these beautiful islands would possibly have been abandoned long 
ago, for since the emancipation of slaves the whites are becoming fewer 
and fewer every decade, except in Cuba and Porto Rico. Experiments 
have been made in bringing labourers from India and China with good 
results in Trinidad, but the general position of all the islands in 1899 may 
be considered as almost stagnant. Yet they were of great value in the 
past, when they" were " bones of contention " between the four great 
nations which fought for them, and with them the sovereignty of America. 
Spain was put in the background by Holland, France, and the United 
Kingdom, and, after many changes, the existing partition of the islands 
was brought about. The future of the West Indies is bound up with the 
future of cane-sugar ; other tropical products seem likely (1898) always to 
remain of secondary importance. 

The islands are linked together by telegraph cables, which connect 
with North and South America. There are several lines of steamers run- 
ning regularly between the West Indies and Europe 



II.— CUBA 

By Robert T. Hill, 

Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey. 

Position and Coasts.— Cuba, the largest and richest of the West 
Indian Islands, lies just within the tropics ; its most northerly point 
is within 100 miles of Key West, its most southerly within 100 miles of 
Jamaica. The island is 720 miles long, and from 25 to 100 miles wide. 
Its area, including 1,300 keys 
(cays) or islets, is 45,000 square 
miles, of which 10 per cent, is 
cultivated, 4 per cent, forest-land, 
and the rest unreclaimed. Cuba 
has three natural divisions, the 
eastern mountains, the central 
plains with occasional hills, and 
the western central axial moun- 
tains bordered by sloping valleys. 
Excepting the swamp region, the 
island is thoroughly drained. The 
coast-line measures 2,000 miles ; 
with embayments and islets it is 
over 6,800 miles. Except on the 
south central side the coast is abrupt, and bordered by a narrow bench 
of coral reef elevated 15 feet above the sea. The eastern coast, 600 feet 
high, is rugged, with stair-like terraces. The land-locked harbours with 
narrow entrances are adapted for commerce and defence. The keys, 




Fig 



Havana Harbour — a typical natural 
harbour oj Cuba. 



794 The International Geography 

which border one half the coast, are coral or mangrove islets growing up 
from shallow platforms ; lack of good water makes them uninhabitable. 

Configuration. — The higher eminences in the interior are true 
mountains of deformation, composed of disturbed sedimentary rocks with 
igneous intrusions. They occur in three independent groups in the eastern, 
western and central portions. The highest range, the Sierra Maestra, domi- 
nates both coasts of Santiago de Cuba. Its loftiest crest, Pico del Turquino, 
has an estimated height 6f 6,800 feet ; its lower slopes are terraced. 
The central high mountains are less angular than the Sierra Maestra, 
and their summits (the highest, El Potrerillo, 2,900 feet) have radiating 
slopes. They are composed of semi-crystalline limestones and shales, 
doubtfully considered Palaeozoic, flanked by disturbed Cretaceous and 
Tertiary beds. The Sierra de los Organos forms the island's axis west of 
Havana, and is an elongated ridge of various geological formations. It 
culminates in the Pan Guajaibon, altitude 2,532 feet. Low hills and mesas 
of circumdenudation capped by Tertiary limestone, 3,006 feet of which 
once enveloped the island, form an extensive plateau north of the Sierra 
Maestra, with terraced cliffs towards the sea ; they include the Mesa Toar 
and Junki de Baracoa, sometimes mistaken for craters. The upper edge 
of this plateau is cut into knife-edged salients ; the lower stair-like benches 
are crossed by vertical canyons, through which the drainage finds outlets 
to the sea. In Matanzas and Havana provinces, the arch of the plateau, 
whose crest on the northern side presents a cliff topography, descends 
nearer sea-level, develops a longer but gentle slope toward the south 
coast, and ends in the Zapata Cienaga and the shallows between Cuba and 
the Isle of Pines. The brackish swamp, Zapata, occupies 600 square miles 
on the southern coast. The famous valleys of Cuba are either wide plains 
threaded by rivers reaching the sea, or amphitheatres within the limestone 
plateau. 

The rivers are voluminous in proportion to their catchment areas. The 
streams run through widely sloping valleys ; canyons are not developed 
until the coastal rim of harder limestone at the entrance of the pouch- 
shaped harbours is reached. Many streams flowing southward disappear in 
vast swamps. In limestone formations the drainage is mostly subterranean, 
and beautiful caverns abound, the largest underlying the eastern Cuchillas. 
There are also waterfalls, natural bridges, mineral springs, and baths, the 
usual accompaniments of such karst phenomena. 

Climate. — There are no extensive climatological records except for 
Havana, and these do not apply throughout Cuba. Rains are most 
abundant from May to October ; those brought by the trade-winds are 
heaviest and most frequent on the higher eastern slopes. At Havana the 
annual rainfall is about 52 inches, of which 32 inches fall in the wet season. 
The average number of rainy days in the year is 102. The air is usually 
charged with 85 per cent, of moisture. Snow has only once been recorded 
in Cuba, in 1856. At Havana the mean annual temperature is 77 F. ; in 



Cuba 795 



July and August the average is 82 F., fluctuating between 88° and 76 ; the 
highest temperature recorded there during ten years was ioo°. In 
December and January the thermometer averages 72 with a maximum 
of 78 and a minimum of 50 ; but on the interior elevations the freezing 
point is reached in winter. The diurnal range of temperature averages io°. 
At Santiago the temperature is higher than on the northern and western 
coasts, and averages 8o°, with a difference between the warmest and coldest 
months of 6° F. ' The easterly trade-wind prevails, but from November to 
February cool north winds of short duration occur in western Cuba, where 
also a refreshing sea-breeze blows in the afternoon. The island is subject 
to hurricanes. 

Flora. — A voluptuous flora covers the surface and includes cha- 
racteristic forms of the West Indies, southern Florida, and the Central 
American seaboard. Many large trees of the Mexican Tierra Caliente 
reappear in western Cuba. Numerous palms, including the royal palm, 
occur, and the pine tree is associated with palms and mahoganies in Pinar 
del Rio and the Isle of Pines ; other woods are the lignum-vitae, the grana- 
dilla, coco-wood, out of which reed instruments are made, and Cedrela 
odorata, used for cigar boxes and linings of cabinet work ; fustic, logwood, 
and mahogany are largely exported from Santiago. There are still about 
13,000,000 acres of uncleared forest. Nutritious grasses are found ; the 
pine-apple, manioc, sweet potato, and Indian corn are indigenous. More 
than 3,350 native plants have been catalogued. 

Fauna. — The peculiar fauna includes only a few indigenous land 
mammals. One rodent, the agouti, is as large as our domestic rabbit ; 
another is the solenodon, whose family has other representatives only in 
Haiti and Madagascar. There is a species of iguana, but there are no 
poisonous snakes. The crocodile, on the Isle of Pines, is the species which 
occurs in southern Florida, Jamaica and Central America. There are few 
fresh-water fishes. A large lepidosteus, similar to the alligatorgar of the 
southern United States, occurs. Insect life abounds, and there are many 
arachnids. Land molluscs with gorgeous colouring are found. Birds are 
numerous, and the parrot is conspicuous ; there is only one indigenous 
humming bird. Collectively, the fauna proves the long isolation of Cuba 
from continental lands. 

History and People. — Beginning on the west, Cuba is divided into 
six provinces, Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto 
Principe, and Santiago. A century before the Anglo-Saxon settlement of 
the New World, Spaniards colonised Cuba and built Baracoa, Santiago, 
and Havana. A search for gold yielded little return except the ornaments 
of the soon exterminated natives. Pastoral pursuits developed ; the 
indigenous tobacco, and sugar-cane imported from the Canaries, were 
cultivated and African slavery introduced. Morro Punti and other 
fortresses were begun before 1600. The second century of occupation saw 
increased agricultural development and colonisation, and fear of English 



796 The International Geography 

buccaneers and French and Dutch pirates resulted in the primitive fortify 
cations of the coastal cities. The wise administration of Las Casas and its 
after influences held Cuba loyal to Spain, even during the times (1794-1820) 
when the latter lost her mainland colonies and San Domingo. The 
Spanish decree of 1825 gave the Captains-general despotic authority, ended 
domestic peace, and initiated insurrections which only ended with the fall 
of Santiago in July, 1898. During the nineteenth century Spain made 
various pretences of extending Cuba's political privileges, but all lacked 
the true essence of local self-government, and absolute power remained 
with the Spanish Captain-general. The Spanish government was devoted 
to the enrichment of officials and to retaining Cuba as a colony. The 
United States resolved in 1898 to put a stop to bad government in Cuba, 
and after a short war with Spain the island was taken under American 
protection on January 1, 1899. A constitution was adopted in 1901, and 
in 1902 Cuba became an independent republic. The people of Cuba are 
for the most part descended from the early Spanish settlers, reinforced by 
later immigrants from southern Europe, and affected in part by a con- 
siderable infusion of negro blood. It is impossible to obtain accurate 
statistics of the changes of population, because no reliable census was 
taken for many decades. About 32 per cent, of the population are black 
or coloured, using the latter word to mean a mixture of the black and 
white races. The Spanish language is in universal use, and almost all the 
people are Roman Catholics. There is a university at Havana, and there 
are now many schools. 

Resources. — The products of the island are sugar-cane of a superior 
quality, tobacco, coffee, bananas, Indian corn, oranges and pines in the 
order named. Cuba leads the world in sugar production, the amount of 
which in 1893-94 was 1,054,000 tons, all of which except 30,000 tons was 
exported. During the revolution the production sank to one-third, but in 
1900-01 it had risen again to 600,000 tons. The sugar lands are upland 
soils, and more fertile than those of the other West Indian islands ; the 
cane is planted only once in seven years ; no fertilisers are used ; the 
estates possess recent inventions for the cultivation of the cane, the 
extraction of its juices, and their conversion into the crystal. Thus sugar 
cultivation in Cuba, has remained profitable in spite of the general depres- 
sion in the cane-sugar trade. 

Tobacco, while secondary to sugar, is far more profitable in proportion 
to acreage. This product grows well throughout the island, but the chief 
seat of its cultivation is the southern slopes of the Sierra de los Organos, in 
Pinar del Rio — the famous Vuelta Abajo region. Good tobaccos are 
exported from Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Santiago. There are large cigar 
factories in Havana, and great exports of baled tobacco from eastern Cuba 
are sent mostly to the United States. Coffee (introduced by the French 
from Martinique in 1727) was once extensively exported, but the trees have 
been replaced by sugar-cane or destroyed during revolutions. Bananas 



CJuba 



797 



have been an important export in eastern Cuba. Delicious oranges grow 
everywhere. Pine-apples are exported from western Cuba and the Isle of 
Pines. Besides the large estates there are many small farms devoted to 
fruit growing, market gardening and dairy products. 

On the fertile grazing lands of Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and 
Santiago, fine animals of Spanish stock are produced. Horses are bred 
throughout Cuba. The developed mineral resources are iron ores, 
asphaltum, manganese, copper and salt. A little gold and silver were 
mined in past centuries. Iron ore has proved the chief metallic resource ; 
the Sierra Maestra mines produce mixed brown and red hematite, contain- 
ing from 65 to 68 per cent, of pure iron. They occur in the white 
limestone that for 2,500 feet incrusts the seaward face of the por- 
phyritic and granitoid core of the mountains. The production in 1890 was 
362,068 tons, amounting to one-fourth the total importation of iron ores 
into the United States for the same period. Rich deposits of manganese 
occur in the Sierra Maestra range near Ponupo. Asphaltum of unusual 
richness is found near Villa Clara, beneath the waters of Cardenas Bay and 
in beds of late Cretaceous and early Eocene age. Copper occurs at many 
places ; from 1524 to 1867 it was mined at Cobre. Salt is made abundantly 
along the northern keys. There are natural salt pans along the margin of 
Cayo Romano, depressions twelve to sixteen inches deep, separated from 
the sea by coral banks over which the waves wash in stormy weather. 
Clays for brick and roofing tiles abound in the non-calcareous formations, 
especially in the eastern provinces. The universal building material is 
limestone and lime products, such as plaster and cement. 

Communications. — The larger part of the thousand miles of public 
railways is comprised in the United System of Havana, which extends west 
and east from Havana 
through the tobacco and f 
sugar districts of the 
Vuelta Arriba and Vuelta 
Abajo and, within a day's 
journey, reaches the prin- 
cipal cities west of Cien- 
fuegos and Sagua la 
Grande. The western 
terminus is Pinar del Rio, 
106 miles from Havana ; 



pinar* 




>-->< 



Fig. 376. — The Railways of Cuba. 



the eastern terminus is Villa Clara, 150 miles distant. One line runs south 
from Havana to Batabano and meets the south-coast steamers. On sugar- 
estates narrow-gauge railways are freely used in handling cane ; they 
communicate with the interior, in connection with coasting steamers and 
broad-gauge lines. Good highways are short and few ; and even common 
roads for wheeled vehicles hardly exist, except near larger towns. 

Trade. — Most of Cuba is accessible to maritime transportation. The 
10 



798 The International Geography- 
chief harbours on the north coast are-Bahia Honda, Cabanas, Havana, 
Matanzas, Sagua, Nuevitas, Gibara, Nipe, and Baracoa ; and on the south, 
Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Manzanillo, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. The 
shipping trade, both foreign and coastal, is extensive ; steamers coast the 
island, the north coast being served from Havana and the south from 
Batabano, the southern out-port of Havana. Although Cuba naturally 
commands the commerce of the American Mediterranean, trade and 
communication with the adjacent regions, other than Mexico, have not 
hitherto been encouraged. The essentials of Cuban commerce are : (1) a 
large balance of trade in favour of the island ; (2) preponderating con- 
sumption of the exports by the United States ; (3) the division of the 
imports between other countries ; and (4) the absence of trade with the. 
neighbouring regions — except the United States — of which the island is 
the natural commercial centre. The trade of the United States with 
Cuba, which has recently been summarised by Mr. John Hyde, statistician, 
reached its high-water mark in 1892-93, when it amounted to £20,460,000, 
the ratio of imports, £15,741,000, to exports £4,721,000, being approxi- 
mately as ten to three. In 1901 the total was £14,200,000, of which the 
exports amounted to £5,300,000, showing a remarkable proportionate 
increase. 

STATISTICS (approximate). 

Area of Cuba, in square miles 45,ooo 

Population (1899) 1,572,845 

Density of population per square mile . . . . 36 

POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS, 1902. 

Havana (Habana) 275,000 | Matanzas 36,374 

Santiago 43,090 Cienfuegos 30,038 

Puerto Principe 25,102 | Cardenas , . 21,940 

There are no trustworthy trade statistics on account of the long period of political disturbance 
in the island. 

III. — PORTO RICO 

By Robert T. Hill, 
Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey. 

Position and Configuration. — The island of Porto Rico lies in the 
3ame tropical latitude as Jamaica, and is separated from Cuba by the 
island of Haiti. Although discovered by Columbus in 1493, and con- 
quered in 1508 by Ponce de Leon, it has never yet been systematically 
explored. The island is 95 miles long, 35 miles wide, and has a coast-line of 
360 miles. It presents a picturesque hilly landscape. Central mountains 
with broken slopes extend through its greatest length, and culminate in 
the Yunque of the Sierra Luquillo, 3,609 feet high. Remnants of the 
virgin forests are still found on the sierra heights. The slopes are gently 
rolling divides, succeeded towards the littoral by well-drained plains. The 
undulating surface is adapted to pasture and the more ordinary kinds 
of cultivation, and is intersected by numerous perennial rivers. 



Porto Rico 



799 



According to Cleve, the Swedish naturalist, the northern hills are 
fragments of a thick series of limestone strata which have been cut 
through by water. They have little inclination, and dip seaward from 
the axis of the island at a low angle. The mountain summits are covered 
by the Antillean Tertiary limestone, a formation which is usually hard 
and yellowish-white. In the mountains of the interior an older formation 
of conglomerates and metamorphic rock, similar to the older rocks of 
Jamaica, is visible below the limestones. The rocks of the littoral are pro- 
bably elevated coral reefs. Great living reefs abound along the south coast. 
The numerous streams have contributed to the wealth of Porto Rico ; some 
are navigable for small vessels, but have troublesome bars across their mouths. 

Climate. — The mean monthly temperature hardly varies 6°, and the 
extreme limits observed are within 40 of each other. The hottest months 
are June, July, August and September ; the coolest, December, January 
and February. The average daily temperature is 8o° F., but a cooling 
north breeze prevails during the hottest days. The thermometer averages 
88° F. at noon, sinks to 8i° at night, and sometimes falls to 6i° F. The 
highlands are cooler, but snow never falls, and hail rarely. Disagreeable 
land winds are unusual ; but tropical hurricanes are frequent between July 
and October. The central mountains cause frequent showers on the 
northern side, while the southern district remains without rain for months. 
The average annual rainfall for twenty-five years at San Juan is 54 inches, 
that at a station in the Yunque, 134 inches. The driest months are 
January and February, the wettest are October and November. 

Resources. — According to Cleve, mercury is found in the Rio Grande, 
and gold in loose pieces in the Sierra Luquillo and Corozal rivers ; placer 
gold was mined by early Spanish settlers. Specular iron is reported, 
notably on the Rio Cuyul, and magnetic iron ore from Gurabo and Ciales ; 
agate of good quality, malachite and other ornamental or precious 
minerals occur. 

Porto Rico contains many large trees ; in the higher parts the forests 
are open, and largely without parasitic vegetation. The species include 
several palms, two tree ferns, cedar, ebony, .sandal- wood and many trees 
suitable for building purposes ; while there are numerous medicinal plants 
and others used for condiments, dyes and tanning. 

Agriculture is sufficiently diversified to produce food for the inhabitants 
besides large crops of sugar and coffee for export. The land is mainly 
divided into small independent holdings belonging to the peasantry of the 
interior. Small fruit farms are the most numerous, but there are many 
small and some large coffee estates, and a number of sugar estates, cattle 
farms and some tobacco plantations. 

The island contains no native mammals, except a single species of 
agouti, although introduced domestic species flourish". In the mountains 
there are many birds ; flamingos and other water-birds frequent the coast ; 
fish abound in the fresh water, and a gigantic tortoise is found. 



800 The International Geography 

People and Government. — Porto Rico for three centuries was 
only a penal station. The aborigines, of Arawak or Carib stock, were 
nearly exterminated in 1811 after an uprising against the Spanish. The 
present native people are of four classes : the Creoles, who call 
themselves Spaniards ; the lower class of white peasantry, or Gibaros ; 
the coloured people, or Mestizos ; and the blacks. In 1615 a decree 
invited colonists to the island on most liberal terms. Lands were allotted 
gratis ; the settlers were free from direct taxes, and for a certain number 
of years from tithes, alcabala, and export duties, which then formed an 
impolitic feature of the Spanish system. With this decree the prosperity 
of Porto Rico began, and Spanish capitalists driven from San Domingo 
and the Spanish Main about the same period, helped to develop the 
resources. The negroes of Porto Rico are in a minority. When eman- 
cipation was given in 1873 industry survived, the planters continuing 
their agricultural operations without financial ruin or social disorgani- 
sation. 

For administrative purposes the island was divided into seven depart- 
ments, including seventy villages. These departments, named after their 
chief towns, each contain about 100,000 inhabitants. Three small islands 
adjacent to Porto Rico constitute parts of its political organisation. These 
are Mona on the west, and Culebra and Vieques on the east. 

Porto Rico was assumed as United States territory at the close of the 
Spanish- American war of 1898, when Cuba was taken under American 
protection. The Catholic bishopric of Porto Rico was founded in 1504, 
under Pope Julian II., and was the first established in the New World. 
Instruction is divided into primary, secondary and superior. There are 
eight superior schools for boys, four for girls, and many elementary classes 
and private schools, while in San Juan there is a college, with courses in 
medicine and law, and a normal school for both sexes. Eighty-seven per 
cent, of the people are, however, illiterate. 

Trade and Towns. — The industries are limited to the preparation 
of sugar and ccffee for market, and the manufacture of tobacco, chocolate, 
wax, soap, matches, rum and straw hats ; but there are a few foundries for 
manufacturing iron machinery. The 'productions for export are sugar- 
cane, coffee, tobacco, cacao and cotton. Sugar-cane on the lower slopes 
and plains yields about 6,000 pounds to the acre. A peculiar variety of 
upland rice, together with yuachia and plantains, are staple foods of the 
labourers ; bananas, maize, beans, yams, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pine- 
apples and other fruits are also of importance. 

The larger commercial towns, mostly seaports, are : San Juan, Ponce, 
May agues, Aguadilla, Arecibo, Fajardo, Naguabo, Arroyo, and San German. 
The principal ports are San Juan on the north ; Fajardo and Enshhada 
Honda on the east ; Ponce and Guanica on the south ; and Puerto Real 
de Cabo Rojo on the west. Playa is the best port. 

The island has communication by steamer with Europe, the other 



Haiti and Santo Domingo 80 1 

islands of the West Indies, and the two neighbouring continents; two 
lines of steamers circumnavigate it, stopping at the various ports. There 
are about 150 miles of railroad in operation, and as much under con- 
struction. 

STATISTICS. 

Area of Porto Rico in square miles 3,668 

Population of Porto Rico in 1899 953, 2 43 

Density of population per square mile 260 

Population of Ponce 27,952 

„ San Juan 32,048 

COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION. 

White. Coloured. Negro, Total. 

589,426 .. .. 304,352 .. .. 59,390 .. .. 953,243 

IV.— HAITI AND SANTO DOMINGO 

By J. Rodway, 

Georgetown, Demerara. 

Physical Features of Haiti. — The island of Santo Domingo, better 
known by its old Carib name of Haiti (rough land), or by the name 
Hispaniola bestowed on it by Columbus in 1492, is separated from Cuba 
by the Windward Passage, and from Porto Rico by the Mona Passage, 
both much frequented by vessels entering the Caribbean Sea. The 
outline of the coast is remarkable, and the island is nearly as large as 
Ireland, the length being about 400 miles and the greatest breadth 160. 
Four chains of mountains corrugate its surface, running nearly parallel to 
each other, separated by depressions, and all trending nearly east and 
west. The Monti Cristi range, parallel to the north coast, is succeeded 
by the great Cibao Chain, which forms the north-western peninsula and 
runs to the extreme east end of the island ; it bears the highest summit in 
the West Indies, Loma Tina (10,300 feet). Between these ranges lies the 
broad plain called by Columbus Vega real or the royal garden, a region of 
great fertility, traversed by large rivers. The southern range forms the 
south-western or Tiburon peninsula, and runs along the western half 
of the south coast. Gold, silver, copper and other minerals are found, 
while for the variety of its vegetable productions it is unexcelled by any of 
the other islands. 

History and People. — This magnificent island was the first to be 
colonised by Spain, and horrible persecutions and massacres of the natives 
took place, which led to the entire extinction of the aborigines within about 
fifty years. Haiti was then almost deserted for a time, save as a place of 
call. Plantations were neglected ; cattle, hogs and dogs ran wild and 
increased to a wonderful degree, until the French buccaneers settled in 
some of the western bays, and especially on the small island of Tortuga. 
They lived by hunting the wild cattle and by piracy, until gradually taking 



8 02 The International Geography- 
possession of a great portion of Hispaniola, about one-third of the island 
was ultimately ceded to France by treaty in 1697. From that period the 
portion now known as Haiti became the most flourishing colony in the 
West Indies, until by the blunders of the first French Republic and then 
of Napoleon I. it was entirely lost. The Republic declared the rights of 
man and freed the slaves ; Napoleon, on the petition of the whites, 
rescinded this resolution, and ordered the negroes back into slavery. The 
result was a series of massacres, ending in the erection of a negro republic 
where no white man could hold any real property. Since 18 10 there have 
been negro emperors, kings, and presidents, Haiti has been joined to 
Santo Domingo, which proclaimed its independence in 1821, and again 
separated, and the whole island has been almost ruined. There are, 
however, no reasons why it should not be very prosperous, save the want 
of good government and the virtual absence of white men. 

The Republic of Santo Domingo. — The eastern republic of 
Santo Domingo is divided into six provinces and six maritime districts, 
and is governed by a President and a Congress of twenty-four members, 
who are elected for two years. The exports are coffee, timber, tobacco, 
cacao and sugar. The capital is the old' Spanish city of San Domingo on 
the south-east coast, and there is a port on the north named Puerto Plata 
of about the same size. The Spanish language is universally spoken ; but 
the people are almost entirely negroes and half-breeds. 

The Republic of Haiti. — The western portion of the island known 
as Haiti is smaller in area, but of greater importance than its sister republic, 
still retaining the superiority which existed while both were European 
colonies, and that due to its command of the great western gulf between 
the two long mountainous peninsulas. The government is administered 
by a President, Senate, and House of Representatives, but it is generally 
considered to be rather that of a military despotism than of a republic. 
The capital is Port-au-Prince, the towns of Cape Haitien, and Aux Cayes are 
also important. A patois derived from French is commonly spoken, but 
pure French is the tongue of the better classes. There are but few whites, 
and these labour under civil disabilities that may almost be compared with 
those formerly laid upon the coloured people under French rule. The 
exports are coffee, mahogany, logwood and cotton. 

There are several islands off the coast ; the largest is Gonave, 37 miles 
long by 9 wide, but on account of its being destitute of springs, it is 
hardly habitable. There is also the old rendezvous of the buccaneers, 
Tortuga, which is 22 miles long by 8 broad, and La Saona, nearly as 
large. 

STATISTICS (estimates about 1890-91). 

Area Popu- Density Imports Exports Popu- 

sq, miles, lation. of Pop". £ £ Capital. lation. 

Santo Domingo . . 18,045 610,000 34 537,000 585,000 Santo 15,000 

Domingo 
Haiti .. .. 10,204 1,400,000 140 2.012.000 2,833.000 Port au Prince 50,000 



Jamaica 803 



V.— THE WEST INDIAN COLONIES 

By J. Rod way, 

Georgetown, Demerara. 
THE BAHAMAS 

Bahamas. — The Bahama Islands are the most northerly of the West 
Indies, comprising about 3,000 low coral islets, rocks and banks. The 
whole group is a British possession, and about twenty of the islands are 
inhabited. The most important are New Providence, Abaca, Harbour 
Island, Eleuthera, Inagua, Mayaguana, Ragged Island, Rum Cay, and the 
Biminis, all of which are ports of entry. Besides these there are the 
Great Bahama, Crooked Island, Cat Island and Watling Island (San 
Salvador), Columbus's supposed landfall. Compared with the southern 
islands most of the Bahamas are little more than barren wastes, rising 
but a few feet above sea-level, in some places so low that salt lagoons 
penetrate to great distances beyond the shore. The most conspicuous 
plant is the agave, from which sisal hemp is obtained as an article of 
commerce. Some of the islands are covered with its rosettes of spiny 
leaves almost to the exclusion of other weeds. 

People and Industries. — Three-fourths of the population are black 
or coloured people ; but the English language is the only one spoken. 
The islands were originally taken possession of by the English at the first 
settlement of Virginia, but for a long period they were little more than 
harbouring places for pirates. The early colonists suffered from the raids 
of Spaniards and French, and in 1781 the islands were captured by the 
former, to be restored to Great Britain, however, at the peace of 1783. 

The main industries are sponge-fishing and salt-raking; from natural 
ponds, where sea-water is continually flowing in and evaporating, the 
crystals of salt are raked into flat-bottomed punts and piled in heaps on 
the shore until ready for removal. Coral, shells and turtle-shell are also 
obtained by fishing and diving ; fruit and early vegetables are grown for 
the American market, and some of the islands yield guano. The capital 
and only town of importance is Nassau on the island of New Providence. 

JAMAICA 

Position, Surface and Productions. — About 100 miles west of 
Haiti, and 100 miles south of Cuba comes Jamaica, the largest of the 
British West Indies. From east to west its greatest length is about 150 
miles, and its breadth from north to south 50 miles. A range of mountains 
runs through the axis of the island from east to west with numerous 
projecting spurs ; the highest peak of the Blue Mountains rises to 7,400 
feet. Numerous small rivers flow from both sides of this range, but none 
are navigable. The name "Jamaica" comes from a native word meaning 




804 The International Geography 

"land of springs." The climate differs according to altitude, that of the 
lower levels being typically tropical, while the temperature on the hills is 
lower according to the height. There are extensive forests, and the moun- 
tain streams are broken by numerous falls and cataracts. 
All tropical productions can be grown to perfection, 
and the exports are more varied than those of the 
other British West Indies. The sugar plantations, once 
so famous, have now dwindled to an area of only 26,000 
acres, and although other products have been largely 
increased by the introduction of banana and orange 

Fig. 377.— The Badge planting for the American and British markets, the 
of Jamaica. . , , , , ,, ., ,.,.,, 

J island has never regained the prosperity which it lost 

on the emancipation of the slaves. Its chief exports are now bananas, 
oranges, sugar, rum, coffee, ginger, pimento, logwood and cacao. 

People, History and Government. — The population consists 
mainly of black and coloured people, the whites numbering only 2% 
per cent, of the whole, and the proportion of East 
Indians is about the same. The island was first 
settled in 1509 by the Spaniards, and was con- 
quered in 1655 by a British force sent out by Oliver 
Cromwell, since which time it has remained in the 
hands of Great Britain. Charles II. granted it a 
constitution in 1662, but in 1866 this was surrendered 
in favour of a Governor and Council, partly official 



and partly elective. The island is divided into p I& ^78. Average fop- 
three counties, Cornwall in the west, Middlesex in ulation of a square 
the centre, and Surrey in the east ; these are sub- e °^ J a1 ' 
divided into parishes the unit of local government being the Parochial 
Board. 

Resources and Towns. — There are few industries beyond the raising 
of agricultural produce. Jamaica rum has long been .famous throughout 
the world, and is unique in flavour. Jamaica coffee and ginger are also 
well known, while pimento is obtained almost exclusively from this island. 
Attempts have been made to introduce tobacco.growing and cigar making, 
but hitherto with only moderate success. The capital is Kingston, which 
is well situated on a good harbour in the south-east of the island. This 
harbour is protected by a spit of land once much larger than at present, 
which was submerged by an earthquake, with the greater part of the town 
of Port Royal upon it, in 1692. The seat of government was formerly 
Spanish Town, which lies a few miles inland. A railway extends from 
Kingston to Montego Bay, in the north-west, 113 miles distant, another to 
Ewarton on the mountains, and a third to Port Antonio, on the north-east 
coast, a distance of 54 miles. The roads in the island are fairly good, but 
liable to injury by floods. From an economic point of view Jamaica is 
much behind Cuba and Porto Rico, but it mav be safely predicted that it 



Danish West Indies 805 

is destined to become prosperous in the near future as one of the fruit 
gardens for the United States, and as a winter resort for North Americans. 

Turks and Caicos Islands, the most southerly of the Bahamas, 
are under the jurisdiction of Jamaica. They consist of about twenty islands 
and cays, forming two groups. The Turks Islands were so called from 
the prevalence of the -turk's-head cactus, which gives a character to the 
barren soil. The most important of the group is Grand Turk, which is 
6£ miles long by 2 wide. In South Caicos the small town, C'ockburn 
Harbour, is a port of entry, and there is another port on Salt Cay. Most of 
the black and coloured people are descended from the slaves of loyalist 
refugees who left the southern States during the American War of 
Independence. Up to late years these people have been living a half 
savage life, but latterly, by the introduction of sponge-fishing, salt-raking 
and the cultivation of sisal hemp, some progress has been made. 

The Cayman Islands are also under the jurisdiction of Jamaica, 
from which they are distant about 180 miles to the west. Grand Cayman 
is 17 miles long by 7 broad, in some places rock-bound, and in others 
protected by coral reefs. The Morant Cays and Pedro Cays are small 
islands with a few inhabitants engaged in turtling and collecting guano. 

DANISH WEST INDIES 

Virgin Islands. — Immediately to the east of Porto Rico commences 
the line of the Lesser Antilles or Caribbees, which form a perfect bow 
with the convex part stretching into the Atlantic. The first group, going 
south, is that of the Virgin Islands, rising from the extensive bank which 
runs east from Porto Rico. Thirty-two of them belong to Great Britain 
and two to Denmark. 

The Danish Islands are St. Thomas and St. John in the Virgin group, 
and St. Croix. They were once under cultivation to a considerable extent, 
but they are now almost bare, only covered with a scrubby vegetation 
consisting mainly of lantana, or sage bush, 
from amidst which the ruins of plantations 
can here and there be discerned. But al- 
though once largely supplied with plan- 
tations, their old prosperity was perhaps 
more due to the fact that when the other 
nations ruling the West Indies were at war, 
Denmark remained strictly neutral. St. ' 379 ' — ' lomas - 

Thomas, with its commodious land-locked harbour, was a free port, 
and as such it reaped to the full its remarkable advantages of position. 
Pirates, privateers, men-of-war and merchant vessels of all nations 
met within its harbour in peace and safety, and obtained supplies 
from its traders. Of late years, however, St. Thomas has very much 
declined, and it is now little more than a port of call. The area of 
the island is 23 square miles, and its population 12,000, most of whom 




806 The International Geography 

live in the capital, Charlotte Amalie, which is also the capital of the 
Danish West Indies. St. John has an area of 42 square miles, but a 
population of only 900. The island, in fact, is virtually ruined. Santa 
Cruz or St. Croix, is the largest of the Danish West Indies, with an area 
of 74 square miles. Once noted for its plantations, it has much diminished 
in the output of sugar, rum and molasses. The capital is Christiansted. 
Very little Danish is spoken either here or at St. Thomas, English being 
generally used; the St. Thomas negro, however, is noted for having a 
smattering of several languages, which is a necessity from the island being 
the resort of so many nationalities. It has often been rumoured that the 
United States were about to buy these islands. 

DUTCH "WEST INDIES 

Dutch Antilles. — In the group south-east of the Virgin Islands are 
the small Dutch possessions of Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Martin's (an 
island half of which belongs to France). These are included under one 
government with Curacao, Buen Ayre, and Aruba, which are situated far 
away, off the coast of Venezuela. The whole have an area of 400 square 
miles and less than 50,000 inhabitants. Saba consists of a single volcanic 
cone rising 1,500 feet above the sea. Steps lead from the shore to a height 
of 800 feet, where, within the ancient crater, the settlement has long been 
established. The inhabitants, who number nearly 2,000, grow fruit and 
vegetables, which they sell to other islands, and they are also expert boat- 
builders and fishermen. In St. Eustatius also, the main part of the island 
is a volcanic cone, but there is a stretch of fertile land on the lower slopes. 
It was once, like St. Thomas, a depot for privateering and smuggling 
adventurers, but it has now entirely lost its former trade. St. Martin's has 
been divided between France and Holland since the year 1648. The 
Dutch portion is at the south of the island, and contains an area of 17 
square miles, with a population of nearly 4,000. A little sugar and salt are 
exported, but the colony is by no means flourishing. 

Dutch Leeward Islands. — The principal group of Dutch islands 
lies far within the bow of the Antilles and about 40 miles from the coast 
of Venezuela. Curacao is 36 miles long by 8 broad. Down to the end 
of the last century it was the chief depot of the smuggling trade with 
Spanish America, and was largely cultivated to supply fresh provisions to 
the numerous traders calling there, but now it is much depressed. The 
chief product is salt, but a little sugar and tobacco are grown, as well as 
the fruit used in flavouring the well-known liqueur named after the island. 
The small town of Willemstadt is the capital and the seat of government 
for the whole of the Dutch West Indies. The administration is carried 
on by a Governor and Colonial Council, and each island has a chief, all of 
whom are appointed by the sovereign. Willemstadt stands on a very safe 
harbour, which can be easily secured from outside enemies. Buen Ayre, 
or Bonaire, and Aruba are smaller islands lying respectively to the east 
and to the west of Curacao. 




British Leeward Islands 807 

LEEWARD ISLANDS 

British Leeward Islands. — This colony includes the Virgin 
Islands and the chain of British islands as far south as Dominica. It in- 
cludes, amongst others of the Virgin Islands, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, 
Joost van Dyke, Peter's Island and Salt Island, with an aggregate area of 
about 60 square miles. The chief town is Road Toivn, Tortola. A small 
quantity of sugar is grown, but the few inhabitants mostly live by growing 
provisions, raising cattle and fishing, their surplus produce being taken to St. 
Thomas. Antigua, with its dependencies Barbuda and 
Redonda, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitt's or St. Christo- 
pher's, Nevis, The Dogs, and several smaller islands, also 
belong to the " Leeward " colony. These islands were 
federated under one Governor and Legislative Council 
in 1 87 1 ; and although so numerous, their total area is 
only 700 square miles. Structurally, they form the peaks 
of two parallel volcanic mountain chains, that to the FlG - 380-— Badge of 
west including Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Kitt's, Nevis, 
Redonda, and Montserrat, and that to the east Sombrero, Anguilla, St. 
Martin's, St. Barts or St. Bartholomew's, Barbuda, and Antigua. 

Antigua is 28 miles long by 20 broad ; its coast is deeply indented 
and broken into bays and peninsulas with high and rocky shores, in con- 
trast to the usual uniform outline of these islands. The whole island is 
beautifully diversified by hill and dale, and the highest elevation, the 
Shackerley Mountains, reaches 1,500. The chief productions are sugar 
and pine-apples, and there are many small estates in cultivation. Little 
more than one-twentieth of the population are whites. The island was 
settled by the British in 1632, and except for a short French occupation 
it has since remained under the same flag. English is commonly spoken. 
The chief town is St. John's, well situated on English Harbour. 

Barbuda and Redonda are dependencies of Antigua. Barbuda 
is very flat, with a large lagoon on its west side ; its exports are salt and 
phosphates. Redonda is a narrow islet, only one mile long, but is valuable 
for its mines of phosphate of alumina, of which about 7,000 tons are 
annually exported. 

Dominica, lying between the French islands of Guadeloupe and 
Martinique, is 29 miles long by 12 broad, with bold precipitous coasts and 
a picturesque mountainous interior. The loftiest summmit, Morne Dia- 
blotin, is 5,314 feet high, and from the mountains many rushing torrents 
descend, which vary much in size according to the rainfall. There are 
several hot sulphur springs. Good anchorage can be obtained to leeward, 
but there are no harbours. Roseau, or Charlotte Town, is the capital ; the 
only other town is Portsmouth, or Prince Rupert's Town. The colony was 
founded by the French, and a patois of that language is most commonly 
spoken. The Grand Soufriere is an active volcano, and in 1880 there was 



808 The International Geography 

an eruption which covered the houses of Roseau with ashes and scoriae 
to a depth of two or three inches. The chief exports are coffee, cacao, 
sugar and lime-juice. 

Montserrat is n miles long by 7 broad. It is so rugged and moun- 
tainous that only one-third of its small area can be cultivated, the re- 
mainder being covered with magnificent forests. The highest elevation is 
the Soufriere Hill, 3,000 feet. Plymouth, the chief town, stands on an open 
roadstead on the south-west coast and near the fertile part of the island. 
The chief product is sugar ; lime-juice is also of some importance for 
export. In 1896 a great hurricane, earthquake and flood devastated the 
island. The English language is universally used, and the island is said to 
be the most healthy of the Antilles. 

St. Kitt's, or St. Christopher's, 23 miles long by 5 broad, tapering in 
the south-east to a long narrow peninsula, consists of a single peak, Mount 
Misery, 3,700 feet high, with gentle slopes formed by old lava streams 
deeply furrowed by the floods of the rainy seasons. The. slopes are very 
fertile, and the alternating forests and cane fields produce a most pleasing 
effect. There are hot springs in several places which emit sulphurous 
vapours. This is the oldest British settlement in the West Indies, having 
been founded in 1623 ; but on account of an amicable arrangement for its 
division between the British and French, it was for a long time a " bone of 
contention " between the two nationalities. The chief town is Basseterre, at 
the junction of the long peninsula with the main island. The chief pro- 
ducts are sugar, molasses, and rum, arrowroot, coffee, cacao and tobacco. 

Nevis is joined to St. Kitt's for administrative purposes, and is only 
separated naturally by a narrow strait. It is about eight miles in diameter, 

and consists of a single volcanic moun- 
tain rising from the sea to an elevation 
of 3,200 feet, with fertile land on the 
slopes. The only town is Charlestown, 
and its products are sugar and salt. 

Anguilla is also included in the 
same administration. It is 16 miles long 
by 3 broad, its name meaning " eel," 
having reference to its long narrow and 
curved form. Its exports are phosphate 
of lime and salt, and there is a small 
town called Rode Bay. The small islands called The Dogs are dependencies 
of Anguilla. 

FRENCH WEST INDIES 
By M. Zimmermann. 

The French West Indies.— The main group of the French West 
Indies occupies the portion of the Lesser Antilles between 14J and 16J N. ; 
it includes the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, and 




Fig. 381.— Anguilla. 



Windward Islands 



809 



Desirade of which only the two first are important ; and there are also the 
islands of St. Martin and St. Bartholomew in 18 N. These are all that 
remain to France of its flourishing West Indian settlements of the seven- 
teenth century. Guadeloupe is composed of a volcanic island, Grande 
Terre, and a coral island, Basse Terre, united by a narrow isthmus, while 
Martinique is purely volcanic. Both are exposed to hurricanes and earth- 
quakes, and the eruption of Mont Pelee on Martinique in 1902 wiped out 
the seaport town of St. Pierre and destroyed 30,000 people. Both islands 
are undergoing a serious economic crisis ; their former sources of wealth, 
sugar and rum, have been unable to compete with the products of the 
beet. The trade of Guadeloupe diminished by one-third between 1878 
and 1898, and Martinique is no better off. Efforts have been made to 
restore prosperity by the cultivation of cacao, tobacco, and especially pine- 
apples and bananas. The population is very dense on both islands ; the 
negroes and mulattoes have entirely taken the place of the old planters. 

WINDWARD ISLANDS 

British Windward Islands. — South of Martinique comes the 
federation of the Windward Islands, which includes 
St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines. 
The total area of these islands slightly exceeds 500 
square miles, and of their population less than five 
per cent, are whites. 

St. Lucia is 24 miles long by 12 broad ; it is of 
volcanic formation, very picturesque from the fantastic 
shapes of the rocks. The soil is decomposed lava FlG - 382.— Badge of 

, i-.-i ai j. -j.1 r • the Windward Islands 

and very fertile. A volcanic crater with a fuming 
soufriere is among the sights of the island. The scenery is of peculiar 
beauty, and Castries on the north-west, with its two peaks 3,000 feet high, 
called the Pitons, can hardly be equalled in grandeur. The harbour 

of Castries is probably the finest 
in the West Indies, and has 
been adopted as a naval station. 
The people are mostly black 
and coloured, and speak a 
French patois similar to that of 
Dominica, but English is gene- 
rally understood. The island 
was settled mainly by the French, 
but it was taken and given up 
again several times by the British 

before it finally came into their 
Fig. 383. — Castries Harbour. J 

possession in 1803. Castries, on 

its fine harbour, is the capital ; the town of Soufriere lies on a less impor- 
tant bay in the north-west. The exports are sugar, cacao, logwood and spices. 





810 The International Geography 

St. Vincent is 18 miles long by n broad. A stretch of volcanic 
hills forms the backbone of the island, and extends here and there into 
spurs with rich valleys between them. The highest peak is the Morne a 
Garou, 4,000 feet ; the Soufriere, 3,000 feet, is an active volcano. In 1812 
a most disastrous eruption took place, which utterly ruined the greater 
part of the cultivation, and in 1902 eruptions did immense damage. 
Between the two mountains there is a lake nearly a mile in diameter, 
occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, and without either inlet or 
outflow. In early times the island was left in the hands of the Caribs, and 
was afterwards alternately French and British. The Caribs were, how- 
ever, so troublesome to the settlers that in 1796 the British authorities 
deported them, to the number of 5,000, to the island of Rattan, off the coast 
of Honduras. The chief exports are sugar, rum, cacao, spices and arrowroot. 
The capital, Kingstown, is situated on an extensive harbour in the south-west. 
The Grenadines, a line of small islands, extends between St. Vincent 
and Grenada. Bequia belongs to St. Vincent, and is long and narrow, 
with an area of six square miles ; being badly watered, however, it is 
not favourable to settlement. Carriacou, Union, and Mustique belong to 
Grenada. 

Grenada is 21 miles long and 12 broad, rugged and picturesque in 
scenery, and traversed from north to south by an irregular mass of volcanic 
mountains, the highest, Mount St. Catherine, rising to 2,750 feet. The 
island contains several small but picturesque crater lakes. The soil is a 
dark mould, very fertile, especially in the valleys. Unlike the other islands, 
it has ceased to grow sugar, which has been replaced by cacao, which 
forms a valuable export, as well as coffee, kola and spices j the colony has 
been called " The Spice Island of the West." Fruit and vegetables are 
also grown for the markets of Barbados and Trinidad. Grenada was 
ceded to Great Britain in 1783, after being in the hands of the French for 
over a century, and the Creole patois is commonly spoken. Of the popu- 
lation much less than one per cent, are whites. St. George's, the capital,, 
stands on a fine harbour in the south-west. 

BARBADOS 

Barbados, the most easterly of the West Indies, is 21 miles long by 
14 broad, and lies 100 miles east of St. Vincent. It was partly federated 
with the Windward Islands until 1885, when it was entirely separated, 
and is now a distinct colony. The island is lower than most of the 
others, the highest elevation being only 1,145 ^ ee ^ Surrounded by coral 
reefs, its formation is Tertiary sandstone and limestone, probably raised by 
volcanic agency. A kind of bitumen called manjak is now being mined 
and utilised, and a crude petroleum known as Barbados tar has long been 
collected and used as a medicine. There are numerous springs, some of 
which are impregnated with mineral substances, but no rivers. The soil 
is so fertile and so free from rocks that there is very little waste land in 



Trinidad and Tobago 



811 



the island. It was first settled by the British in 1625, and it enjoys the 
unique position of having never been in the possession of any other nation. 
The whites once preponderated, and by them Virginia and Jamaica were 
largely colonised. At present only about 10 per cent, of the inhabitants 
are white. The density of population, 1,120 per square mile, is perhaps 
unique for any separately governed colony or State. Barbados has never 
experienced the difficulty so conspicuous in the other colonies of want 
of labour ; even the emancipation caused but little distress. Sugar has 
always been the staple product, and now that the price is so low the 
island is passing through a period of depression hardly known before. 
The English language is universally spoken, and the Barbadian is proud 
of his connection with the mother country. His island is " Little 
England," and he is "neither Carib nor Creole, but true Barbadian born." 
The constitution is old and on the lines of the mother country ; the 
Governor represents the King, the Legislative Council the Lords, and 
the House of Assembly the Commons. Bridgetown, the capital, stands 
on the shore of an open roadstead named Carlisle Bay, in the south- 
west, and a railway runs thence round the south and east of the island. 

TRINIDAD 

Trinidad is only separated from the continent by narrow straits, and 
physically belongs to South America rather 
than to the West Indies, its mountains 
being the continuation of the Venezuelan 
system. Next to Jamaica it is the largest 
of the British West Indian Islands, being 
48 miles long by 35 broad. It is generally 
level, but three chains of hills run across 
it from east to west ; that in the north, 
the termination of the Venezuelan Coast 
Range, is the highest, reaching a maxi- 
mum of about 3,000 feet. The most re- 
markable feature is the Pitch Lake at La Brea, in the 
south-west, which was known from a very early period* 
for even the buccaneers caulked their ships with its 
asphalt or bitumen. The lake covers about ninety 
acres, and its product is a valuable article of export, 
being largely used for pavements. 

The climate is hot and damp, but agreeable, the 
goil fertile and capable of growing all tropical 
products. The forest, which covers a large part of 
the island, is valuable for its timbers, and, like that of the neigh- 
bouring mainland, is very interesting botanically. The island was 
discovered by Columbus in 1498, and was colonised to a small extent by 
the Spaniards, who continued to possess it till 1797, when it was con- 




FlG. 384.— Trinidad. 




Fig. 385.— .Badge of 
Trinidad. 



8 12 The International Geography 



quered by Great Britain. Remnants of Spanish laws still exist, and the 
Spanish language is spoken to some extent ; but on account of a French 
immigration, which took place in 1783 and following years, the Creole 
French patois is more prevalent. English is, however, generally under- 
stood. Together with the island of Tobago it forms a Crown colony ; it 
is administered by a Governor, Executive Council, 
and Legislative Council. The inhabitants consist of 
black and coloured people, with a small proportion 
of whites, East Indians who have been imported as 
labourers to the great benefit of the colony, and a 
few Chinese. 

The chief products are sugar, cacao, and asphalt, 
and, like the other sugar colonies, it is much de. 

Fig. 386.— Average pop- P ressed at Present from the low price of its staple ; 

ulation of a square less so than others, however, for Trinidad cacao is an 

mile of Trtmdad. exceedingly valuable product. There are about eighty 

miles of railway open on the island connecting Port of Spain, the capital, in 

the north-west, with San Fernando, in the south-west, and with the interior. 

Tobago lies about 20 miles north-east of Trinidad, and is 26 miles 

long by i\ broad. Its formation is volcanic, with conical hills and ridges 

rising to a height of 1,800 feet. It exports sugar, coco-nuts and live stock 

from the little town of Scarborough, on the south coast. 



STATISTICS OF BRITISH WEST INDIES. 



Colony. 

Area.square miles . . 

Population, 1881 . . 

1891 .. 

„ 1901 . . 

Density of pop. 1901 

Annual exports : — 

Average, 1871-75 . . 

1881-85 •• 

1891-95 .. 

Annual imports : — 

Average, 1871-75 . . 

1881-85 .. 

1891-95 .. 



Bahamas. 
4,466 . 

43,521 • 
. 47,565 • 

54.358 • 



135,000 
145,000 
127,000 

203,000 
207,000 
185,000 



Jamaica 

and Turks Leeward Windward 
Islands. Islands. Islands. 



4,372 .. 

585,536 .. 

644,235 .. 

771,900 . . 

177 .. 



704 .. 509 

122,046 . . 121,502 

127,723 .. 136,483 

127,440 . . 162,800 

181 . . 320 



Trinidad and 

Barbados. Tobago. 

166 .. 1,868 

171,860 . . 171,179 

182,306 . . 200,028 

195,600 . . 279,700 

1,180 . . 150 



1,364,000 .. 482,000 .. 539,000 .. 1,193,000 .. 1,613,000 

1,445,000 .. 545,000 .. 508,000 .. 1,159,000 .. 2,503,000 

1,896,00c .. 457,000 .. 515,000 .. 911,000 .. 2,157,000 

1,654,000 .. 430,000 .. 419,000 .. 1,149,000 .. 1,381,000 

1,500,000 . . 463,000 . . 407,000 . . 1,097,000 . . 2,5f>(),000 

2,094,000 .. 442,000 .. 446,000 .. 1,151,000 .. 2,195,000 



PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 



Town. 
Nassau 
Kingston 
St. John, Antigua 
St. George's, Grenada 
Bridgetown . . 
Portof Spain. . 



Colony. 


Population, 1881. 


Population, 1891 


Bahamas 


ca. 5 000 


ca. 5,000 


Jamaica 


38,566 


48,504 


Leeward Islands 


ca. 10,000 


0,738 


Windward Islands . 


ca. 5,000 


ca 5,000 


Barbados 


20.947 


21,000 


Trinidad 


31,858 


33.273 



STANDARD BOOKS. 

R. T. Hill. " Cuba and Porto Rico with the other Islands of the West Indies." 

York and London, 1898. 
J. Rodway. "The West Indies and the Spanish Main." London, 1896. 
" Report of the West India Royal Commission, 1897." 4 vols. London, 1897. 
G. P. Musson and T. L. Roxburgh. " The Handbook of Jamaica." London, 1896. 
L. G. Tippenhauer. " Die Insel Haiti." Leipzig, 1893. 



New 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

ON 

NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, 
AND THE WEST INDIES 

(Pp. 664-812) 



Miscellaneous Questions and Exercises selected from the Pre- 
liminary Certificate, King's Scholarship, and Oxford and 
Cambridge Junior and Senior Local Examination Papers. 



NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND 
THE WEST INDIES 

The Continent of North America (pp. 664-678) 

1. Enumerate the resemblances that occur to you after comparing North and 
South America. 

2. In what ways may contrasts be drawn between the two Americas ? Make 
some comparison between North America and Eurasia. 

3. Describe, briefly, the chief features of the west coast of North America. 

4. What distinct types of land-forms are shown in the West Indies? 

5. Where are the Laurentian Highlands ? Give a succinct account of their 
structure and surface. 

6. By what other name is the Alleghany Plateau known ? Describe its position 
and characteristics. 

7. Describe the Rocky Mountains under the following heads : — (a) Extent ; 
(6) various ranges ; (c) chief heights. 

8. What do you know of the Great Plains of North America ? 

9. How do you explain the moderate difference of the opposite seasons along 
the Pacific coast, and the great contrasts in the interior and along the middle 
Atlantic borders? 

10. Compare the temperature and rainfall of San Francisco and New York. 

11. Study the map on p. 676 of the Mean Annual Rainfall of North America, 
and write down the results of your observation. 

12. What do you know of the discovery of North America before Columbus? 

13. Give some reasons that will account for the rapidity with which North 
America has been turned to the uses of civilisation. 

11 i 



ii The International Geography 



COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA 

i. The Dominion of Canada (pp. 679-704) 

14. What is meant by British North America ? Give its boundaries and extent. 

15. What do you know about the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay ? 

16. Name the four physical divisions of British North America, and explain 
their position. 

17. Classify the rivers of British North America according to the four drainage 
areas. 

18. " In so extensive a region the climate necessarily exhibits great diversities." 
Show the truth of this statement with regard to British North America, and name 
the climatic areas. 

19. Where is the forest land of British North America, and what are the chief 
trees ? 

20. Explain the changes in the nature of the chief exports from Canada during 
the last hundred years. 

21. Name and describe some of the chief Indian tribes of British North America. 
Give some facts with regard to the races of the people of Canada. 

22. What do you consider are the chief means of internal communication in 
Canada ? 

23. Explain exactly what is meant by the " Dominion of Canada," and how 
each province is governed. 

Nova Scotia 

24. Where and what is Nova Scotia? Describe its coasts. 

25. What do you know of the (a) surface, (b) climate, and (c) people of Nova 
Scotia ? 

Prince Edward Island 

26. Describe the resources of Prince Edward Island. 

27. What are the industries of the people ? 

New Brunswick 

28. Mention the chief facts with regard to the position and surface of New 
Brunswick. 

29. What are some of the rivers ? Describe the resources of this province. 



30. Where is the province of Quebec situated, and what are its boundaries ? 

31. What are the three natural divisions of Quebec ? Describe the St. Lawrence 
Plain. 

32. "The climate is continental." Show that this statement is true with regard 
to Quebec. 

33. When and by whom was Quebec discovered? What are the leading events 
in its history since that date ? 

34. Enumerate the chief vegetable and mineral products of the province of 
Quebec. 

35. Draw a sketch map of Quebec province, and mark the position of the chief 
towns. 

36. Describe fully the cities of Quebec and Montreal, making special reference to 
their position, their industries, and their people. 



Questions and Exercises iii 



Ontario 

37. What are the boundaries of Ontario, and what is the position of the Great 
Lakes with regard to this province ? 

38. Name the four natural divisions of Ontario, and give a brief characteristic 
description of each. 

39. When was Ontario (a) first settled and (b) first erected into a province? 

40. What are the chief crops of Ontario, and how are the people mainly 
occupied ? 

41. Name the chief minerals, and say where they are found. 

42. Locate and describe Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, and Kingston. 

Manitoba 

43. Where is Manitoba, and what are the principal divisions? 

44. Describe the Winnipeg River and the Red River. 

45. What name was originally given to this province ? Relate what you know 
of its present population and their industries. 

British Columbia 

46. Describe the position of this province, including Vancouver Island. 

47. "British Columbia is essentially a land of mountains." Comment on this 
statement. 

48. What do you know of the rivers and lakes of this province ? 

49. When and by whom was this province discovered ? Give the chief subse- 
quent events in its history. 

50. Explain how the wealth of this province depends on the mineral products. 
Mention the other products, and show their importance. 

51. Where and what are Victoria, Vancouver, Banff, and Rossland ? 

52. Make a sketch map of British Columbia showing the railways. 

The Teri'itories 

53. Give the names of the other provinces and explain their relative positions. 

54. What do you know of the surface and production of this area ? 

55. Where and what are the Saskatchewan River, Regina, Calgary, Dawson, and 
Klondike? 

2. Newfoundland (pp. 704-707) 

56. Define clearly the position of the colony of Newfoundland, and describe its 
surface both on the island and the mainland. 

57. What are some of the characteristics of its climate ? 

58. State what you know of the resources and industries of this colony. 

59. When and by whom was Newfoundland discovered? Give the chief facts in 
its subsequent history. 

60. W 7 hat do you know of the means of communication ? 

61. Draw a sketch map of Newfoundland, mark the chief bays, locate St. John's, 
and indicate the position of the Banks. 

3. St. Pierre and Miquelon (pp. 707-708) 

62. Give a short account of the position and value of these islands. 



iv The International Geography 

4. Bermuda (pp. 708-709) 

63. What is there remarkable about the situation and formation of these islands ? 

64. Give some facts of interest with regard to the climate and productions. 

65. Who discovered these islands ? How are they governed ? Explain their 
value to Great Britain. 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (pp. 710-773) 

1. Historical and Political Geography 

66. Mention some of the chief landmarks in the discovery and settlement of the 
United States. 

67. Draw the map on p. 711, and mark on it («) the original States, and (/>) 
States acquired by purchase or conquest. 

68. What do you know of the boundaries of the various States, and compare the 
importance of some of the State capitals with that of some large commercial cities ? 

69. How are the individual States governed, and what are the main features in 
the government of the Union ? 

70. What remarks can you make on the influx of foreigners ? Where has the 
process of rapid assimilation of foreigners been a success, and where a failure ? 

71. In what way has education been advanced in the United States by (a) 
wealthy men, and (b) by the Government ? 

72. At what seaports is the foreign trade of the United States carried on? 
Compare the value of the imports and exports. 

2. Regional Geography 

i 

73. How were the Appalachian Mountains first formed? What connection is 

there between their geological history and their present form ? 

74. Study carefully the map on p. 719, and then write out from memory the 
chief physical divisions of the United States, with their approximate positions. 

75. Name the most important commercial cities of the Atlantic coastal plain, and 
describe their situation. 

76. What examples of geographical control can you give on the New England 
coast ? 

77. Locate and describe Boston, Newport, Portland, Augusta, Portsmouth. 

78. Make a list of the New England States, and enumerate their chief products. 

79. "The imprint of glacial action is strong in New England." Discuss briefly 
the truth of this statement. 

80. How do you account for the vast manufacturing industries of New England ? 
What effect has water-power had in the forming of the towns ? 

81. Find the following places on the map, and mention one or two facts about 
each: Worcester, Waterbury, Nantucket, Provincetown, Plymouth. 

82. Study the positions of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and then 
write down the reasons to which you think they owe their growth. 

83. Say what you can of the Hudson River with regard to (a) its appearance, 
(b) its volume, and (c) its navigability. 

84. Make a rough plan of the site of New York City, and explain the reason of 
its great extent from south to north. 

85. Trace the progress of Philadelphia, and show in what ways it has been 
specially favoured. 

86. Describe Baltimore, especially noting any advantages it possesses by virtue 
of its position. 



Questions and Exercises v 

87. Where and what are Washington, D.C., Catskill Mountains, Adirondacks, 
Mount Marcy, and Wisconsin ? 

88. In what ways is the Ohio region one of the most valuable parts of the 
United States ? 

89. How would you explain the physical features of the Ohio region ? 

90. Trace the northern international boundary, and distinguish the natural and 
artificial parts of it. 

91. To what do you attribute the growth of Cincinnati ? Name the chief cities 
that have been built on the southern side of the Great Lakes. 

92. How do the soil and surface of the prairies north of the Ohio differ from 
those farther south ?. 

93. What are the chief crops and industries of the region from Ohio to 
Nebraska ? 

94. In what ways has glacial action affected the drainage of the district between 
Ohio arid Nebraska. 

95. " Chicago is the epitome of the prairie and lake region." Comment on this 
statement. Make some remarks on the site and growth of Chicago. 

96. How can you associate the history of the Niagara River, the Great Lakes, 
and the city of Chicago ? 

97. Trace the course of the Mississippi River, and on a sketch map mark the 
position of the chief towns. 

98. Describe the resources of the country through which the Ohio River flows, 
and give some facts as to the climate of this region. 

99. How can it be said that the Southern Coastal Plain was chiefly responsible for 
slavery ? 

100. Draw a sketch map to show the old slave States and the present distribution 
of the coloured population. 

10 1. Write some notes on Florida, with reference to (a) its position, (b) climate, 
and (c) productions. 

102. Illustrate, by a map, the formation of the Mississippi delta. 

103. What has been done to utilise the rich soil of this delta ? 

104. Where, in the Mississippi Basin, are tornadoes frequent? What are some 
of their characteristics ? 

105. Describe the Missouri Highlands and the Arkansas Highlands. 

106. Write what you know of the Red River Rafts. 

107. Read carefully the account of the Great Plains on pp. 755-757, and then 
write out from memory a resume of the same. 

108. Locate the Black Hills, the Bad Lands, the Sand Hills, the Plains of 
Kansas, and the Llano Estacado. 

109. Which is the only important city on the Great Plains? Account for its 
successful growth. 

1 10. Draw a map of the western half of the United States, and mark the Rocky 
Mountains, the Yellowstone Park, the Colorado Plateaux, and the Columbia 
Plateaux. 

in. Describe the Yellowstone Park and the Colorado Canyon, with special 
reference to their size and natural features. 

112. What are the classes of settlements in the Basin Range regions? What 
are the productions and industries of this region. 

113. Name the chief mountain ranges in the Pacific Slope, and give the heights 
of some of the highest peaks. 

114. Mention the chief stages in the growth of California. 

115. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the presence of Chinese in the 
Western States. 

116. Describe Alaska under the following heads: (a) surface, (6) rivers, (c) 
climate, and (d) economic products. 

117. Why is the possession of Alaska of special interest to the United States? 



vi The International Geography 



MEXICO (pp. 774-781) 

118. What do you know of the boundary line (a) between Mexico and the 
United States, and (b) between Mexico and Guatemala ? 

119. Give a brief account of the configuration of Mexico, and name six of the 
highest volcanoes. 

120. Why has the city of Mexico the highest death-rate of any city in the 
civilised world ? What has been done to improve its drainage system ? 

121. Describe the climate and rainfall of Mexico. How do you explain the fact 
that the conditions of rainfall have been modified since the period of the Spanish 
conquest ? 

122. What do you consider the characteristics of the fauna and flora of Mexico? 

123. Write down the chief facts in the history of Mexico from its conquest in 
1 52 1 to the establishment of the Republic in 1867. How is Mexico now 
governed ? 

124. What are the mineral resources of Mexico, and what are the chief 
industries ? 

125. Give an interesting account of the city of Mexico, and name the chief sea- 
ports or harbours of Mexico. 



CENTRAL AMERICA (pp. 782-790) 

126. Draw a sketch map of Central America, and mark on it the Republics and 
British Honduras. 

127. What do you know of the volcanoes and earthquakes of Central America ? 

128. Where is the watershed of Central America? Name the chief rivers and 
lakes. 

129. In what ways do the mountains of Central America influence its climate 
and rainfall ? 

130. Give a few particulars of the vegetation and animal life of Central 
America. 

131. Name some of the races that are represented in the Central American 
Republics. When were the separate Republics first formed, and what is their 
present form of government ? 

132. What are the mineral and agricultural productions of Central America, and 
what are the chief exports ? 

133. Locate and describe the chief seaports of the various Republics, and com- 
ment on the means of communication. 

134. Describe British Honduras with regard to its (a) position, (b) coast, (c) 
surface, (d) productions, and (e) government. 

135. Discuss the relative advantages of a ship canal across the isthmus of 
Panama, and of one through Lake Nicaragua. 



THE WEST INDIES (pp. 791-812) 

1. General Features (pp. 791-793) 

136. What is the position of the West Indian Islands? What European nations 
hold these islands ? 

137. Explain how the islands differ (a) in size, and (b) in geological structure. 

138. Give a general account of the climate and soil of the West Indies. 



Questions and Exercises vii 

139. What do you consider were the evils and the advantages of the system of 
negro slavery ? 

140. How would you explain such a statement as this: — "The future of the 
West Indies is bound up with the future of cane sugar. " 

2. Cuba (pp. 793-798) 

141. Examine a map of Cuba, and then describe its coast-line. Draw a plan of 
the harbour of Havana. 

142. Describe Cuba under the following heads : (a) surface, (6) climate, and (c) 
flora and fauna. 

143. What do you know of the early histoiy of Cuba? Describe its present 
government, religion, and state of education. 

144. Make a list of the chief products of the island, and arrange them in order 
of importance. 

145. What are the essentials of Cuban commerce ? Give some facts relating to 
its trade with the United States. 

3. Porto Rico (pp. 798-801) 

146. Give a short account of (a) the configuration, {b) climate, and (c) resources 
of Porto Rico. 

147. What is the present government of Porto Rico, and what is the condition 
of education in the island ? 

4. Haiti and Santo Domingo (pp. 801-802) 

148. What are the physical features of Haiti, and what are the chief 
productions ? 

149. Write a brief account of the history of the island, and describe its present 
government. 

150. Where and what are San Domingo, Puerto Plata, Port-au-Prince, Gonave, 
and Tortuga? 

5. The West Indian Colonies (pp. 803-812) 

The Bahamas 

151. Where are the Bahamas? Name the most important islands and give the 
chief productions. 

152. What do you know of the people of these islands and their industries ? 

Jamaica 

I 53- Write a description of the position, surface, and productions of Jamaica. ' 

154. When was Jamaica first settled by the Spaniards and conquered by the 
British ? What has been its subsequent history ? 

155. What do you know of Kingston, Spanish Town, Port Antonio, Turks and 
Caicos Islands, and the Cayman Islands? 

156. Explain the importance of the fruit trade to Jamaica. 

Danish and Dutch West Indies 

157. Name the islands in the West Indies that respectively belong to Denmark 
and Holland. 

158. What are the productions of these islands? How is the government 
administered ? 



viii The International Geography 



Leeward Islands 

159. What islands are included in this group? What do you know of their 
structure ? 

160. When were these islands acquired by Britain? How are they governed? 

161. Give the capital of each island, and describe the productions of the islands. 

French West Indies 

162. What islands do the French hold ? In what way are these islands under- 
going a severe economic crisis ? 

Windward Islands 

163. Name the British Windward Islands, and describe the surface of St. Lucia 
and St. Vincent. 

164. What do you know of the inhabitants of these islands and of their 
industries ? 

Barbados 

165. Where is Barbados ? When was it made a distinct colony ? 

166. What do you know of the productions, people, and government of 
Barbados ? 

. Trinidad 

167. Draw a map of Trinidad, and show its position with regard to South 
America. 

168. Write a short account of Trinidad, giving particulars of its surface, produc- 
tions, and people. 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES SELECTED FROM 
EXAMINATION PAPERS 

The Preliminary Certificate and King's Scholarship 

169. Describe as fully as you can Jamaica. (1900) 

170. Describe a journey from Liverpool across Canada to Japan. (1900) 

171. Describe the position and explain the importance of Chicago and Winnipeg. 

(1900) 

172. Give a short account of Yellowstone Park and Great Salt Lake. (1901) 

173. Describe fully Newfoundland. - (1901) 

174. The geography of British North America is being studied by children 
whose average age is about eleven years. What cities should they remember by 
name? Give your reasons for the selection which you make. (1902) 

175. Describe the frontier of the United States. Name the races that inhabit 
the districts north of the northern frontier and south of the southern frontier. 
Compare their population with that of the British Isles and Canada. (1902) 

176. Describe shortly the Canadian Pacific Railway. Give a rough sketch map, 
and show the position of at least four places, including two termini. (1902) 

177. Name in order of importance the provinces of the Dominion of Canada. 
How is the Dominion governed (a) as a whole, (6) in its various divisions. (1904) 



Questions and Exercises ix 

178. On a sketch map of North America indicate — 

(a) The various independent countries ; 

(b) The main physical features ; 

(c) Where the frontiers follow natural, and where political lines ; 

(d) The climatic conditions. 

[Use any method you like to show them], (1907) 

Oxford Junior and Senior Locals 

179. Give a description of the route taken by the Canadian Pacific Railway, 
mentioning the chief stations. Show in what way it is of service to trade. (1903) 

180. How do you account for (a) the large rainfall in British Columbia, (b) the 
fogs off the banks of Newfoundland ? ( I 9°4) 

181. Describe the distribution of lakes and rivers in Canada, and explain the 
causes which give the necessary supply of water. What is the effect of the great 
lakes on the climate of Canada? (1904) 

182. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various alternative routes 
by which it has been proposed to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean by canal. 

(1904) 

183. Describe the two great inland waterways of North America. (^oS) 

184. Describe fully the waterway leading from New York to Lake Superior, and 
give some account of the trade carried on by means of it. (1906) 

185. In what parts of North America are people of French and Spanish descent 
chiefly found? How do you account for their presence? (1906) 

186. Describe accurately the position of San Francisco. What geographical 
conditions first gave rise to the growth of San Francisco? How do they differ from 
the conditions' that now cause its prosperity? (1906) 

187. Describe shortly the climate of Nova Scotia. Compare it with that of 
England, and give reasons for the differences you point out. (1906) 

Cambridge Junior and Senior Locals 

188. Describe California, and give an account of its climate and chief agricultural, 
forest, and mineral products. Name and describe the situation of its chief seaport. 

(1903) 

189. Name the capital and the chief seaport of Mexico, describe their situations, 
and the character of the country traversed by the railway connecting these two 
places. (1903) 

190. In what parts of North America are the following chiefly found : coal, 
copper, petroleum, timber, cattle, sheep? ( I 9°3) 

191. What are the chief manufactures of Canada, and where are they carried on ? 

(1903) 

192. In the case of the West Indies, say why these islands are so named, to 
whom they belong, which are most thickly peopled, and what are the chief products 
of the principal islands. ( I 9°3) 

193. Give an account of the Arid Region of the United States, the reasons why 
it is arid, its position, extent, most striking features, and chief products. (1903) 



INDEX 



Abaca, 803 

Aborigines, Central America, 787 ; 
North America, 676 ; Porto 
Rico, 800 

Acadia, 687 

Acajutla, 788 

Acapulco, 781 

Acatenango, Mount, 783 

Adirondack Mountains, 668, 671, 
727>.734 

Agassiz, Lake, 695, 743, 750 

Agave, in Bahama, 803 ; in Central 
America, 7S6 

Aggraded = filled up, 672 

Aguadilla, 800 

Alabama, 754 ; Coastal Plain 
'(map), 746 ; River, 746 

Alaska, 667, 677, 770 ; Acquisition 
of, 711 

Albany, N.Y., 729, 731, 736 

Alberta, 701, 702 

Aleutian Islands, 667, 770 

Alexander, Archipelago, 770 

Algonkian (Algonquian), 683 

Allegheny, Mountains, 670 ; Pla- 
teau, 671, 721, 727, 731, 732 ; 
River, 734 

Altos, 788_ 

Alvarado in Central America, 787 

Amapala, 788 

Amatique Bay, 783 

America, North and South con- 
trasts, 664 

Anahuac Plain, 776 

Androscoggin River, 725 

Anegada, 807 

Anguilla Island, 808 

Ann, Cape, 722 

Annapolis, Md., 731 ; Valley, 
686 

Antecedent Rivers, 732 

Anthracite in Pennsylvania, 727 

Anticosti Island, 689 

Antigua (Guatemala), 783, 789 ; 
Island, 807 

Antillean Mountain System, 667 

Apache Tribe, 779 

Appalachian, Belt, 715; Moun- 
tains, 670, 681 ; Northern Con- 
tinuation of, 690 

Arawak People, 800 

Arctic Archipelago, 703 

Arecibo, 800 

Arizona, 765 

Arkansas Highlands, 753 

Arroyo, 800 

Artesian Wells in Atlantic States, 
721 

Aruba Island, 806 

Asphalt in Trinidad, 811 



Assiniboia, 702 ; District, 701 
Athabasca, District, 702 ; Lake, 

681 ; River, 681, 698, 703 
Atlantic, City, 718 ; Coastal Plain, 

718 ; Coastal Plain (map), 720 
Atlantic Ocean, Shore Line of the 

United States, 717 
Auburn, Me., 725 ; N.Y., 736 
Augusta, Me., 723 
Austin, Tex., 755 
Aux Cayes, 802 
Avalon Peninsula, 705 
Aztecs, 779 
Aztlan, 779 

Bad Lands of Dakota, 758 

Bahama Islands, 803 ; Climate, 
792 

Bahia, Honda, 798 

Balsam, Lake, 694 

Baltimore, Md., Site, 720; as a 
Seaport, 715 

Bananas in Jamaica, 84 

Bangor, Me., 723 

Baracoa, 795, 798 

Baranof Island, 770 

Barbados, Island, 810; Tar, 810 

Barbuda Island, 807 

Barrancas of Mexico, 776 * 

Barren lands, 682, 703 

Basin Ranges, Rocky Mountains, 
765 

Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, 809 

Basseterre, St. Kitts, 808 

Batabano, 797 

Baton Rouge, La., 750 

Bay, Islands, 784; of Islands, 
Newfoundland, 705 ; Verte, 686 

Baymen of British Honduras, 790 

Bear-Paw Mountains, 756 

Belize, 790 ; River, 789 

Belle Isle Strait, 704 

Beothuk People, 706 

Bequia Island, 810 

Bermuda, 708-709 

Biddeford, Me., 725 

Big Horn Basin, 762 

Biminis, The, 803 

Binghampton, N.Y., 736 

Birmingham, Ala., 728 

Bismarck, N. Dak., 757 

Black, Hills, 673; Hills, U.S., 
757 ; Mountains, 670 ; Moun- 
tains, N.C., 716 

Blackfoot Tribe, 6S3 

Blizzard, 756 

Blomidon, Cape, 686 

Blue, Grass Country, 733 ; Moun- 
tains, Jamaica, 803 ; Mountains, 
Wash., 764; Ridge, 721 

xi 



Bluefields, 788 

Bonaca Island, 784 

Bonavista Bay, 705 

Bonaire Island, 806 

Bonneville, Lake, in Utah (map), 
766 

Boston, Mass., 722 ; as a Seaport, 
715 ; Harbour Islands, 724 

Boundaries of States, 712 

Boundary, at the Great American 
Lakes, 737 ; of Maryland, 718 ; 
of Virginia, 718 

Brandon, 696 

Bras d'Or, 686 

Breton, Cape, 686 

Bridgetown, Barbados, 811 

Brier Island, 686 

British, Columbia, 697-700 ; Hon- 
duras, 787, 789 ; North America, 
679 

Brockton, U.S., 726 

Brooklyn, 730 

Bruce Peninsula, 694 

Buen Ayre (Bonaire) Island, 806 

Buffalo, N.Y., Site, 738 

Buffaloes in United States, 758 

Burin Peninsula, 705 

Burlington, I., 744 

Burrard Inlet, 697, 700 

Butte City, 761 

Cabanas, 798 

Cabot, John, 706 ; Strait, 704 
Cacao, in Grenada, 810 ; in Trini- 
dad, 812 
Cactus, 766 
Caicos Islands, 805 
Cairo, 111., 750 
Caldera of Crater Lake, 768 
California, 765 ; Acquisition of, 

711 ; Gulf of, 668, 774 ; Valley 

of, 668, 768 
Cambridge, Mass., 731 
Campeche, 774, 781 
Canada, Boundary with United 

States, 723; Geological Map, 680 
Canso, Gut of, 686 
Cape, Breton Island, 685 ; Haitien, 

802 
Cardenas Bay, 797 
Caribbees, 792, 805 
Cariboo District, 699 
Carib People (Carahibs), 800 ; at 

St. Vincent, 792, 810 ; in British 

Honduras, 790 
Carlisle Bay, Barbados, 811 
Carolina Bight, 720 
Carriacou Island, 810 
Cartago, 784, 789 ; (Costa Rica), 783 
Cartier, Jacques, 691 



xii The International Geography 



Cascade Mountains, 672, 764, 767 

Castries, 809 

Cat Island, 803 

Catorce, 780 

Catskill Mountains, 671, 732, 734 

Cattle, on the Great Plains, U.S., 

755 ! on the Prairies, 739 
Cayman Islands, 805 
Cayo Romano, 797 
Cays, of Cuba, 793 ; i.i West 

Indies, 791 

Central, America, 782 - 790 ; 

America, Climate, 785 ; Rivers, 

784 ; Guatemala Mountains, 783 

Cerro, Cotzic, 783 ; de Apisco, 

775 ; Quemado, 783 
Chaleur Bay, 688 
Champerico, 788 
Champlain, Lake, 728 
Chapala, Lake, 776 
Charleston, S.C., Site, 720 
Charlestown, Nevis, 808 
Charlotte, Amalie, 806 ; Town, 

Dominica, 807 
Charlottetown, 687 
Chats Rapid-;, 693 
Chaudiere, Falls, Ottawa, 695 ; 

River, 691 
Cherry Creek, 760 
Chesapeake, Bay, 731 ; River, 718 
Chicago, 740 ; Site, 738 
Chichen-Itza, 779 
Chidley, Cape, 679 
Chignecto Bay, 686 
Chinamen, in British Columbia, 
700 ; in Trinidad, 812 ; in U.S., 
769 
Chinandega, 789 
Chippewa River, 743 
Chiquimula, 789 
Chiriqui, Volcano, 784 
Chixoy River, 785 
Chontales, 784 
Christiansted, 806 
Chunnenugga Ridge, 746 
Churchill River, 701 
Ciales, 799 

Cibao Mountains, 801 
Cienfuegos, 796, 797, 798 
Cincinnati, 737, 744 
Citlaltepetl, 775 
Cleveland, O. , Site, 738 
Climate, of Central America, 785 ; 
of North America, 673 ; of West 
Indies, 792 
Coahuila Desert, 765 
Coal, in Canada, 687, 699, 702 ; 

in Pennsylvania, 733 
Coast Range, B.C., 697, 698 
Coatzacoalcos, 781 
Coban, 789 ; Rainfall, 785 
Cobequid Mountains, 686 
Cobre, 797 
Cochineal Insect in Central 

America 788 
Cockburn Harbour, 805 
Cockscomb Mountains, 789 
Cod, Cape, 726 
Cod -fishing in Newfoundland, 

706 

Coffee, in Central America, 788 ; in 

Cuba, 796 ; in Jamaica, 804 ; in 

Mexico, 780 ; in Porto Rico, 799 

Cofre, de Perote (Nauhcampate- 

petl), 775 
Colorado, 757, 760, 762 : Canyons 
of, 672 ; Plateaux, 763 ; River, 
763; 765 



Columbia, S.C., Site, 720; District 
of (map), 731 ; Plateaux, 764 ; 
River, 698, 764, 765 

Columbus, at Haiti, 801 ; at 
Trinidad 8ra 

Comanche Tribe, 779 

Comayagua, 789 

Comstock Lode, 767 

Conception Bay, 705 

Conchagua, Volcano, 784 

Conchaguita, Volcano, 784 

Conchos, Rio, 776 

Congrehoy Peak, 784 

Connecticut, 723, 725 ; Valley, 

723 

Coosa River, 728 

Copper Mountains, 703 

Coppermine River, 703 

Coral, Reefs in Cuba, 793 ; Reefs in 
Florida, 748 ; Reefs in Porto 
Rico, 799 

Cordoba, 780 

Corinto, 788 _ 

Corn, see Maize, 739 

Cornwall, Jamaica, 804 

Corozal River, 799 

Cortez in Central America, 787 

Coseguina, Volcano, 784 

Costa Rica, 789 ; Physical Geo- 
graphy, 784 ; Seaports, 788 

Coteau of the Missouri, 755 

Cotton in United States, 715 

Crater Lake, Oregon, 768 

Crazy Mountains, 756 

Cree Tribe, 683 

Creoles, in Central America, 787 ; 
in Porto Rico, 800 

Cripple Creek, 761 

Crooked Island, 803 

Crow's Nest Pass, 699 

Cuba, 793-798 ; Railway Map, 797 

Cuchillas, 794 

Cuestas, Definition, 752 

Cuitzeo, Lake, 776 

Culebra Island, 800 

Cumberland, Mountain, U.S., 
732 ; Plateau, U.S., 732 ; Table- 
land, 671 ; Valley, Pa., 728 

Cuyul, Rio, 799 

Cypress Hills, 702 

Deerfield, 724 

Delaware, 718; River, 718 

Demarcation Point, 679 

Denver, 760 

Desirade Island, 809 

Detroit, Mich., Site, 738 

Dismal Swamp, 721 

Doab, 720 

Dogs, The, 807, 808 

Dominion of Canada, 679-704 

Dominion Land Survey in Canada, 

684 _ 
Dominica Island, 807 
Don River, Ontario, 695 
Drumlins in New England, 724 
Dubuque, I., 744 
Dunes in Nebraska, 758 
Dutch, Antilles, 806 ; West Indies, 



Earthquakes in Central America, 

783 . 
East River, 730 
Edmonton, 702 
El Potrerillo Mountain, 794 
Eleuthera Island, 803 
Elmira, N.Y., 736 



Erie, Canal, 736; Lake, Old Out- 
let, 740 ; Lowland, 737 

Eskimo in Canada, 684 

Esquimalt, B.C., 700 

Esquipulas, 788 

Eurasia, Resemblance with N. 
America, 665 

Everglades, 747 

Ewarton, 804 

Exploits River, 705 

Fajardo, 800 

Fall River, Mass., 725 

Fauna of Canada, 683 

Fear, Cape, 720 

Finlay River, 681 

Fjords of British Columbia, 697 

Floods of the Ohio Region, 744 

Flora, of Canada, 682 ; of Mexico, 

777 

Florida, 747 : Acquisition of, 711 

Fonseca Gulf, 783, 784 

Forests, of British Columbia, 699 ; 
of Canada, 682 ; of New Bruns- 
wick, 688 

Fort, Benton, Mont., 757; Dear- 
born, 740 

Fortune Bay, 705 

Franklin, District, 702 ; Territory, 
703 

Fraser River, 681, 698 

Fredericton, 689 

French, Shore, Newfoundland, 
708 ; West Indies, 808 ; in 
Quebec, 691 

Fuego, Volcano, 783 

Fundy, Bay of, 686, 688 

Galveston, 754 

Gaspe Peninsula, 690 

Georgia Strait, 697 

Georgian Bay, 693, 742 

Gibara, 798 

Gibaros, 800 

Ginger in Jamaica, 804 

Glacial Action, in Canada, 689, 
693, 695 ; in New England, 724 

Glaciation of North America 
(map), 669 

Gloucester, Mass., 722 

Gold, in British Columbia, 699; 
in Mexico, 780 ; in Yukon, 703 

Gold Mountains, E.C., 698 

Golfo Dulce, 783, 785 

Gonave Island, 802 

Granada, Nicaragua, 789 

Grand, Bank, Newfoundland, 706, 
708 ; Cayman, 805 ; Coulee, 765 ; 
(M'Lean) Falls, 701: Falls, New 
Brunswick, 68S ; Prairie, 755; 
Rapids, Mich., 737 ; Soufriere, 
807 ; Turk Island, 805 

Grande Terre, Guadeloupe, 809 

Great, Appalachian Valley, 728 ; 
Bahama Island, 803 ; Basin 
Area of South America, 815 ; 
Bear Lake, 681 ; Bras d'Or, 686 ; 
Falls, Mont., 757 ; Lakes of 
North America, 692, 736; Plains 
of Kansas, 759 ; Plains of North 
America, 673 ; Plains of U.S., 
755-760 ; Salt Lake, 766 ; Slave 
Lake, 681, 703 

Greater New York, 730 

Green, Mountains, 722, 724 ; River 
Basin, 763 

Greenland, 666 



Index 



xm 



Grenada Island, 810 

Grenadine Islands, 810 

Grey town, 78S, 789 

Grijalva River, 776 

Guadalajara, 780 

Guadeloupe Island, 809 

Guanajuato, 780 

Guanica, 800 

Guantanamo, 798 

Guatemala, 789 ; People, 787 ; 
Physical Geography, 783 ; Sea- 
ports, 788 

Guatemala City, rainfall, 785 

Gulf Stream, 708 

Gurabo, 799 

Haida People, 684 

Haiti and Santo Domingo, 801- 
802 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 687 

Hamilton, Bermuda, 709 ; Ontario, 
695 ; River, 701 

Hand Hills, 702 

Harbour Grace, 707 

Harbour Island, 803 

Harrisburg, Pa., 727, 731 

Hartford, Conn., 723 

Harvard Mountain, 760 

Hatteras, Cape, 720 

Havana, 798 ; Climate, 794 ; Har- 
bour (map), 793 ; Province, 795 

Heart's Content, 705 

Heilprin, Professor A., Mexico, 

774 

Helderbergs Escarpment, 736 

Helena, Ark., 750, 754 

Henry Mountains, 763 

Hetch-hetchy Valley, 767 

Highland Rim, U.S., 733 

Highwood Mountains, 756 

Hill, Robert T., Cuba, 793 ; Porto 
Rico, 798 

Hispaniola, 801 

Hondo River, 789 

Honduras, 789 ; Gulf, 782 ; Moun- 
tains, 784 ; Physical Geography, 
784 ; Seaports, 788 

Hood, Mount, 767 

Hot Winds of Kansas, 760 

Hudson, Bay, 666, 679, 692, 693, 
700, 701 ; River, 728, 729 ; 
Valley, 728 

Hudson Bay Company, 696 

Hull, Canada, 692 

Humber River, Newfoundland, 
705 ; Ontario, 695 

Huron, Lake, 692 

Huronian Rocks, 693 

Ice-sheet of America, 666 

Idaho, 764 

Illinois, 739 

Ilopango, Lake, 784 

Inagua Island, 803 

Indian Territory, 759 

Indiana, 739 

Indians, in America, 711 ; in 
Canada, 683 ; of North America, 
676 

Indigo in Central America, 788 

Innuits in Canada, 684 

Intermont Basins in Rocky Moun- 
tains, 762 

Invierno in Central America, 785 

Iowa, 751 

Irazu, Volcano, 784 

Iron Mountain, Mo., 753 



Iron Ore, in Cuba, 797 ; in United 

States, 734 
Iroquois People, 684 
Irrigation on the Great Plains, 

U.S., 757 . 
Isle of Pines, Cuba, 795 
Itasca, Lake, 743 
Ixtaccihuatl, 775 
Izalco, Volcano, 784 

Jalapa, Rainfall, 777 

Jalisco, 774 

Jamaica, 803 ; Climate, 792 
James River, U.S., 756 
Jefferson City, Miss., 752 
Joost Van Dyke Island, 807 
Jorullo Mountain, 775 
Juan de Fuca Strait, 697 
Juanacatlan, Fall of, 776 
Jucuapa (Salvador), 783 
Junki de Baracoa, 794 

Kadiac Island, 770 

Kanawha River, 732 

Kansas, 751 ; City, 759 ; Plains of, 

_ 759 . 

Karst, Phenomena in Cuba, 794 

Kazan River, 684 

Keewatin, 701 

Kennebec River, 723 

Kentucky Caverns, 732 

Key West, 748 

Keys (Cays), in West Indies, 791 ; 

of Cuba, 793 
Kingston, Jamaica, 804 ; Ont., 

695 
Kingstown, St. Vincent, 810 
Kittatinny Valley, 728 
Klamath River, 768 
Klondike, Gold in, 771 ; River, 

703 
Kootenay, District, 699 ; People, 

684 _ 
Kwakioor People, 684 

La, Brea, 811 ; Saona Island, 802 ; 

Union, 788 

Labrador, Climate, 674; Peninsula, 
700 

Laccoliths in Colorado, 761 

Ladinos, 787 

Lahontan, Lake (map), 766 

Lake, of the Woods, 694 ; Superior, 
Navigation, 684 

Lakes, of Mexico, 776 ; of New 
England, 724; of North America, 
669, 692 

Las Casas, in Central America, 
787 ; in Cuba, 796 

Laurentian, Highlands, 668, 734 ; 
Plateau, 680 ; Plateau in Mani- 
toba, 695 ; Plateau in Ontario, 
693 ; Plateau in Quebec, 689 ; 
Uplands, 671 

Laurentide Mountains, 690 

Lawrence, Mass., 725 

Leadville, 761 

Leeward Islands (British), 807 

Lempa, Rio, 784 

Leon (Nicaragua), 783, 789 

Lerma, Rio (Santiago), 776 

Les Eboulements, 690 

Lesser Antilles, 805 

Levees of the Mississippi, 750 

Lewiston, Me., 725 

Liard River, 698 

Libertad, 789 

Lief Ericsen, 686 



Little, Rock, Ark., 754 ; Rocky 

Mountains, 756 
Livingston, Guatemala, 788 
Llano Estacado, 673, 754, 759 
Lobsters in Newfoundland, 706 
Loess of Mississippi, 738 
Logan, Mount, 672, 681 
Logwood, in British Honduras, 

790 ; in Central America, 787 ; 

in Cuba, 795 
Loma Tina Mountain, 801 
London, Ont., 695 
Long, Island, 726 ; Range, 705 
Look-out Cape, 720 
Los Angelos, 768 
Louisiania, 754; Acquisition, 711 
Louisville, Ky., 744 
Lowell, Mass., 725 
Lower California, 774 
Lynn, Mass., 726 

Mackenzie, Alexander, Explorer, 

6 99 
Mackenzie, District, 702 ; River, 

68r ; River Navigation, 685 
M'Lean Falls, 701 
Magdalen Islands, 689 
Mahogany, in British Honduras, 

790 ; in Cuba, 795 
Maine, 723, 725 
Maize in United States, 739 
Malaspina Glacier, 770 
Malinche (Matlalcueyatl), 775 
Mammoth Cave, 732 
Managua, 789 ; Lake, 784, 785 
Manchester, N.H., 725 
Mangroves in Yucatan, 778 
Manitoba, 695-696 ; Escarpment, 

696, 701 ; Lake, 696 
Manitoulin Island, 694 
Manomet Hills, 726 
Manzanillo, 781, 798 
Marcy, Mount, 734 
Marie Galante Island, 808 
Martha's Vineyard Island, 726 
Martinique Island, 809 
Maryland State, 731 ; Boundary, 

718 
Masaya, 789 
Massachusetts, 722 
Matagalpa, 784 
Matanzas, 798 ; Province, 795 
Matchedash Bay, 693 
Mato Teepee, 758 
Maya-Quich6 Language, 779 
Mayaguana Island, 803 
Mayaguez, 800 
Mazama, Mount, 768 
Mazatlan, 781 
Mejico, 774 
Memphis, Tenn., 750 
Merrimack River, 723, 725 
Mesa Toar, 794 
Mesas in United States, 673 
Mestizos, 787 
Mexcala River, 776 
Mexican, Cordilleras, 775; Indians, 

779; (Nahuatl Aztec) Language, 

779 
Mexico, 774-781; City, 776, 781; 

City Rainfall, 777 ; Valley(map)j 

776 
Michigan, Lake, Old Outlet, 740 
Middlesex, Jamaica, 804 
Milwaukee, Site, 738 
Minneapolis, 743 
Minnesota, 750, 751 ; River, 743, 

75° 



xiv The International Geography 



Miquelon, 70S 

Misery, Mount, 808 

Mississippi, Delta, 749 ; Flood 
Plain, 740 ; River, 743, 748 ; 
River as Boundary, 712 

Missouri, 751 ; COteau, 701 ; High- 
lands, 752 ; River, 756 

Mitla, 779 

Mixteco-Zapoteca Language, 779 

Mobile, Ala., 746 

Mohawk, as Ancient Outlet of 
Lake Michigan, 742 ; Valley, 
736 

Mona Island, 800 

Mona Passage, 801 

Monadnocks, 716 

Moncton, 689 

Mono Lake, 767 

Monongahela River, 734 

Montana, 756 

Montego Bay, 804 

Monterey, 777 

Monti Christi Mountains, 801 

Montmorency Fall, 690 

Montreal, 691 ; Temperature and 
Rainfall, 682 

Montserrat, 807, 808 

Morant Cays, 805 

Mormons, 766 

Morne a Garou, 810 

Morne Diablotin, 807 

Morro Punti, 795 

Mosquito Indians, 787 

Mount, Desert, 723 ; Royal, 690 

Muir Glacier, 770 

Mulattoes in Central America, 787 

Muldraughs Hill, 733 

Mustique Island, 810 

Naguabo, 800 

Nahuatl Aztec Language, 779 

Nahua Tribe, 779 

Nantucket, 726 

Narragansett Bay, 723 

Nashville Basin, 733 

Nassau, 803 

Natchez, La, 750 

Nauhcampatepetl, 775 

Nebraska, 751, 759 

Negroes, in Central America, 787 ; 
in Porto Rico, 800 ; in United 
States (map), 747 

Nevada, 765 

Nevado de Colina, 775 ; de 
Toluca, 77s 

Nevis Island, 807, 808 

New, Almaden, 768 ; Bedford, 
725 ; Brunswick, 688 - 689 ; 
England, 721 ; Hampshire, 
723 ; Haven, Conn., 723 ; 
Kanawha River, 728 ; Mexico, 
762 ; Orleans, 715, 749 ; Orleans, 
Site (map), 750 ; Orleans, Tem- 
perature and Rainfall, 675; Provi- 
dence, 803 ; Spain, 780 ; West- 
minster, B.C., 700; Westminster, 
Temperature and Rainfall, 682 ; 
York, 727, 720 ; York City, 715, 
730 ; York, Temperature and 
Rainfall, 675 

Newburgh, N.Y., 736 

Newer Appalachian Belt, 717, 727 

Newfoundland, 704-707; Grand 
Banks of, 722 

Newport, R.I., 723 

Niagara, 735; Escarpment, 694; 
Gorge, 742 ; and the Great 
Lakes, 741 ; River, 681 



Nicaragua, 789 ; Lake, 784, 785 ; 
Physical Geography, 784 ; Sea- 
ports, 788 ; Ship Canal, 785 

Nickel in Canada, 694 

Nicoya Gulf, 783 

Nipe, 798 

Nipigon, Lake, 694 

Norfolk, U.S., 729 ; Va., Site, 720 

North, America, Climate, 673 ; 
America, Configuration Map, 
670 ; America, Continent of, 
664 - 678 ; America, Map of 
Glaciation,669 ; Carolina Shores, 
720 ; Dakota, 750 ; Mountains, 
636 ; -Western Territories of 
Canada, 702 

Northers of Texas, 755 

Northumberland Strait, 686, 687 

Notre -Dame, Bay, 705; Moun- 
tains, 690 

Nova Scotia, 685-687 

Nuevitas, 798 

Nuevo Leon, 777 

Ocos, 788 

Ohio,Region, 735 ; Region, Glacial 
Action in, 738 ; River, 732, 737, 
744; Riveras Boundary, 712 

Ojibways Tribe, 683 

Oklahoma, 759 

Older Appalachian Belt, 717, 722 

Omaha, 759 

Omotepe, Volcano, 784 

Ontario, 692-695 ; during the Ice 
Age, 742 ; Peninsula, 693 

Oranges in Jamaica, 804 

Oregon, 764, 765 ; Acquisition of, 

7" 

Orizaba Mountain, 775 

Osage River, 753 

Otomi Language, 779 

Ottawa, 695 

Ouachita, Mountains, 753, 759 ; 

Ridges, 673 
Ozark Plateau, 752, 753 

Pacaya, Volcano, 783 

Pacific Slope of United States, 

767-771 
Padre Island, Tex., 754 
Palenque, 779 
Pamlico Sound, 718 
Panama, 789 
Pan Guajaibon, 794 
Parks in Rocky Mountains, 763 
Passes of the Mississippi, 749 
Patzcuaro, Lake, 776 
Peace River, 681, 698 
Pecos River, 759 
Pedro Cays, 805 
Pelee, Mont, 809 
Pennsylvania, 718, 727, 733 
Peno scot River, 723 
Peten, Lake, 785 ; Plain, 783, 786 
Peter's Island, 807 
Petit Codiac River, 689 
Petroleum in Pennsylvania, 733 
Philadelphia, Pa., 715, 720, 730 
Phosphate, in Florida, 747 ; in 

Redonda, 807 
Pico del Turguino, 794 
Pictou Harbour, 686 
Pilot Knob, Mo., 753 
Pinar del Rio, 797 ; Province, 795 
Pine-apples in Cuba, 797 
Pine, Forests of Gulf States, 745 ; 

Ridges, 786 
Pines, Isle of, Cuba, 794 



Pitch Lake, Trinidad, 811 

Pitons Mountains, 809 

Pitt River, 767 

Pittsburg, Pa., 734 

Placentia Bay, 705 

Platte River, 758, 759 

Playa, 800 

Playas, Definition, 766 

Plymouth, Mass., 722, 726 ; Mont- 
serrat, 808 

Ponce, 800 ; de Leon, 798 

Ponupo, 797 

Popocatepetl Mountain, 775 

Port, Antonio, 804; -au-Prince, 
802 ; aux Basques, 707 ; of Spain, 
812 ; Royal, 804 ; Simpson, 697 

Portage la Prairie, 696 

Portages, 690 

Portland, Me., 723 ; Ore, 7C9 

Porto Rico, 798-801 

Portsmouth, Dominica, 807 ; 
N.H., 723 

Potomac River, 718, 729 

Poughkeepsie, N.V., 736 

Prairie, as a Misnomer, 757 ; 
Steppe, 695 

Prairies, 673 ; and Population, 737 ; 
and Trees, 739 

Pribilof Islands, 773 

Prince, Edward Island, 687 ; 
Rupert's Town, 807 

Princeton Mountain, 760 

Progreso, 781 

Providence, R. I., 723, 726 

Provincetown, Mass., 726 

Puerto, Barrios, 788 ; Corfez, 788 ; 
Limon, 788 ; Plata, 802 ; Principe 
Province, 795 ; Real de Cabo 
Rojo, 800 

Puget Sound, 

Pulque, 778 

Punta, Arenas (Costa Rica), 788 

Quebec, City, 692 ; Province, 689- 

692 
Queen Charlotte Sound, 697 
Queretaro, 780 
Quetzal, 786 
Quezaltenango, 785, 789 
Quezaltepeque, Volcano, 784 
Quiche, 787 
Quincy, Illinois, 744 

Ragged Island, 803 

Railways, of Cuba (map), 797 ; of 

North America (map), 677 ; on 

the Prairies, 138 
Rainfall, Influence of Mountains 

on, 785 
Rainier, Mount, 767 
Raleigh, N.C., Site, 720 
Red, River of the North, 696, 750 ; 

River Rafts, 754 ; River Settle- 
ment, 696 
Redonda Island, 807 
Re-entrant = Incurve of the Coast, 

668 
Regina, 702 
Republica, Mayor de Centro- 

america, 787 
Rhode Island, 723 
Richmond, Va., Site, 720 
Rideau Canal, 695 
Rio, Chixoy, 783 ; Grande, 754, 

762, 774, 776 ; de la Pasion, 785 ; 

de las Balsas (Mescala), 776 
Rivas (Nicaragua), 783 
Road Town, 807 



Index 



xv 



Roatan Island, 784 

Rochester, N.Y., 736 

Rockport, Mass., 722 

Rocky Mountains, 671, 697, 760- 
767 

Rode Bay, 808 

Rodway, J., Haiti and Santo 
Domingo, 801 ; West Indian 
Colonies, 803 ; West Indies, 791 

Roseau, 807 

Rossland, B.C., 700 

Rum Cay, 803 

Rum in Jamaica, 804 

Saba Island, 806 

Sable Island, 686 

Saco, Me., 725 ; River, 725 

Sacramento, 768 ; River, 767 

Sage Brush, 764, 766 

Sagua, 798 ; ia Grande, 797 

St., Anthony, 743; Christopher's 
Island, 807, 808 ; Catherine, 
Mount, 810 ; Croix Island, 
805 ; Elias Alps, 671 ; Elias, 
Mount, 672, 681, 770 ; Eusta- 
tius Island, 806 ; Francois 
Mountains, 753 ; George's, Gren- 
ada, 810 ; Helens, Mount, 767 ; 
John, N.B., 689; John Island, 
805 ; John River, 688, 689 ; 
John's, Antigua, 807 ; John's, 
Newfoundland, 707 ; Kitt's 
Island, 807, 808 ; Lawrence, 
Gulf of, 679 ; Lawrence Plain 
in Ontario, 693; Lawrence 
Plain in Quebec, 690 ; Lawrence 
River, 681, 689, 728 ; Lawrence 
River Navigation, 684 ; Law- 
rence River System, 665 ; Louis, 
Miss., 749; Louis, Miss., Site 
(map), 751; Lucia, 809; Mar- 
tin's Island, 806 ; Mary's Bay, 
705; Paul, Minn., 743 ; Pierre, 
708, 809 ; Pierre and Miquelon, 
707-708 ; Thomas Island, 805 ; 
Vincent, W.I., 810 

Salama, Rainfall, 785 

Salem, Mass., 722, 725 

Salish People, 684 

Salmon in British Columbia, 699 

Salt, in Bahama, 803 ; in Cuba, 
797 

Salt, Cay, 805 ; Island, 807 ; Lake 
City, 767 

Salvador, 789 ; Physical Geo- 
graphy, 783 ; Seaports, 788 

San, Bias, 781 ; Diego, Cal., 768 ; 
Domingo, 802; Fernando, 812; 
Francisco, Cal., 675, 715, 768, 
769 ; Francisco Mountain, 763 ; 
German, 800 ; Jose (Guatemala), 
788 ; Jose de Costa Rica, 789 ; 
Juan, Porto Rico, 800; Juan 
River, 784, 785 ; Juan del Norte 
(Greytown), 788 ; Juan del Sur, 

788 ; Luis Valley, 762 ; Miguel, 

789 ; Miguel, Volcano, 784 ; Sal- 
vador, 783, 789 ; Vicente, 789 

Sand Hills in Nebraska, 758 
Santa, Ana, 789 ; Ana, Volcano, 

784 ; Clara Province, 795 ; Cruz 

Island, 806 
Santiago, Province, 795 ; River, 

776 ; de Cuba, 796, 798 ; de 

Cuba, Climate, 795 
Santo Domingo Republic, 802 
Sapper, Dr. Carl, Central America, 

782 



Sapote Forests of Yucatan, 778 
Sarstoon River, 789 
Saskatchewan, 702 ; District, 701 ; 

-Nelson River, 681 ; River, 701 ; 

River Navigation, 685 
Sault St. Marie, 692, 735 
Savannas in Central America, 786 
Savannah, Ga., Site, 720 
Sawatch Mountains, 760 
Scarboro' Heights, Ont., 695 
Scarborough. Tobago, 812 
Schenectady, N.Y., 736 
Schuylkill, 730 
Scugog,. Lake, 694 
Sea Island Cotton, 720 
Seattle, 769 
Segovia, 784 

Selkirk Mountains, B.C., 671, 698 
Seri Tribe, 779 
Seymour Narrows, 697 
Shackerley Mountains, 807 
Shasta, Mount, 768 
Sheet-flood, Definition, 766 
Shenandoah Valley, 728, 747 
Sherbrooke, Canada, 692 
Shickshocks Mountains, 690 
Shreveport, 754 
Sierra, Luquillo, 798 ; Luquillo 

River, 799 ; Madre, 672, 775 ; 

Maestra, 794, 797 ; Nevada, 672 ; 

Nevada of California, 767 ; de 

Las Minas, 783 ; de los Organos, 

Cuba, 794, 796 ; del Mico, 783 
Silver, in British Columbia, 699 ; 

in Mexico, 780 
Simcoe, Lake, 694 
Sioux People, 684 
Sisal Hemp in Bahama, 803 
Sitka, 770 
Skeena River, 698 
Slave States of U.S. (map), 747 
Slavery in United States, 746 
Snake, River, 764 ; Canyon, 672 
Soils of Ohio Region, 738 
Somers' Islands, 709 
Soo (Sault Ste. Marie) Canal, 735; 

Map, 692 
Sorata Mount, 817 
Soufriere, Hill, 808 ; St. Lucia, 

809 ; St. Vincent, 810 
South, Carolina Islands, 720 ; 

Dakota, 751, 757 
Southern Coastal Plain of U.S., 

745 
Spanish, in Cuba, 796 ; Town, 804 
Spokane, 764 
Sponges in Bahamas, 803 
Stikine River, 698 
Sugar, in Barbados, 811 ; in Cuba, 

796 ; in Jamaica, 804 ; in Porto 

Rico, 799-800 
Superior, Lake, 692, 734, 737 
Surrey, Jamaica, 804 
Susquehanna River, 731 
Syracuse, N.Y., 736 

Tacana, Mount, 783 ; Volcano, 

783 
Tacoma, 769 
Taconic Mountains, 722 
Tajumulco, Mount, 783 
Tampico, 781 
Tancitaro, 775 
Tegucigalpa, 789 
Tehuacan, 778 
Tennessee, Caverns, 732 ; River, 

728 
Tenochtitlan, 781 



Tequixquiac, 777 

Territories of Canada, 700-704 

Teslin, Lake, 703 

Teton Mountains, 760 

Texas, 754; Acquisition of, 711; 

Coastal Plain, 754 
Texcoco, Lake, 776 
Thompson, David, Explorer, 699 
Thousand Islands, Ontario, 693 
Tiburon Peninsula, 801 
Tierra Caliente, in Central 

America, 786 ; in Mexico, 777 
Tierra Fria, in Central America, 

786 ; in Mexico, 777 
Tierra Templada, in Central 

America, 786 ; in Mexico, 777 
Timber in Canada, 691, 694 
Time Reckoning- in North 

America, 678 
Tinne Tribe, 684 
Tobacco in Cuba, 796 
Tobago Island, 812 
Toledo, O., 743 ; Site, 738 
Toltecs, 779 
Tornadoes of the Mississippi 

Basin, 751 
Toronto, 695 
Tortola Island, 807 
Tortuga, 801 ; Island, 802 
Trjtonicapan, 786 
Township Plan in Canada (map), 

684 
Trans-Mississippi States, 750 
Trembling Mountain, 690 
Trenton, N.J., Site, 720 
Trinidad, Cuba, 796, 798 ; Island, 

811 
Trinity Bay, 705 
Triumfo, 788 
Troy, N.Y., 729, 736 
Tsimshiian People, 684 
Tual, Rainfall, 785 
Tula, 779 
Turks Islands, 805 
Turrialba, Volcano, 784 
Tyrrell, J. B., Dominion of 

Canada, 679-704 ; Newfound- 
land, 704-707 

Uinta Mountains, 761, 763 

Ungava, 700 

Union Island, 810 

United Empire Loyalists, 694 

United States or America, 710- 

773 ; Physical Divisions of 

(map), 719 
Usumacinta River, 776, 785 
Utah, 765 
Utica, N.Y., 736 
Utila, Island, 784 
Uxmal, 779 

Vancouver, B.C., 700; Island, 

697, 699 
Vega Real, 801 
Vera Cruz, 781 

Verano, Central America, 785 
Vermont, 724 
Vicksburg, Miss., 750 
Victoria, B.C., 700 
Vieques Island, 800 
Villa, Clara, 797 
Virgin, Gorda, 807 ; Islands, 805, 

807 
Virginia, Boundary, 718 ; City, 

767 ; Mountains in, 727 
Volcanoes of Mexico, 77s 



xvi The International Geography 



Vuelta, Abajo, 796, 797 ; Arriba, 
797 

Wahsatch Mountains, 760, 761 
Washburn, Mount, 763 
Washington, D.C., 731 ; D.C., 

Site, 720 ; Mount, 717 ; State, 

764 
Water Power, in New England, 

725 ; of Ohio Region, 740 
Waterbury, U.S., 726 
Watling Island, 803 
Wenham Ice, 725 
West, Indian Colonies, 803-812; 

Indies, 791-812; Indies (map), 

791 ; Virginia, 733 
Wheat, in Manitoba, 696 ; in 

United States, 715 ; in Wash- 
ington State, 764 



Whitney, Mount, 767 

White, Fish in Canada, 696 ; 

Mountains, N.H. , 670, 716, 717 
Whittle, Cape, 689 
Willemstadt, 806 
Wilmington, N.C. , Site, 720 
Windward, Passage, 801 ; Islands, 

809 _ 
Winnipeg, 696 ; Lake, 696 ; River, 

696 ; Temperature and Rainfall, 

^75. 
Winnipegosis, Lake, 696 
Wisconsin - Michigan Uplands, 

734 
Worcester, Mass., 726 
Wyoming, 757, 760, 762 

Yale Mountain, 760 
Yautepec, 778 



Yellowstone, Canyon, 763 ; Lake, 
763, Park, 763 ; River, 756 

Yo Semite Valley, 767 

Yucatan, 774, 778 

Yuccas, 766 

Yukon, Delta, 667 ; District, 702, 
703 ; River, 681, 698, 770 

Yunque, 798 

Yzabal (Golfo Dulce) Lake, 785 



Zacatecas, 780 

Zambos in Central America, 787 
Zapata Cienaga, 794 
Zimmermann, M., French West 

Indies, 808 ; St. Pierre and 

Miquelon, 707 
Zuchiate River, 774 
Zumpango, Lake, 777 



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